Turn It Down! The Effects of Noise on Your Child

Says Dr. Maxwell, "It is worth noting that the attentional research also found that noise interfered with children's discrimination of speech. All children were tested in quiet conditions in this study, thereby confirming that chronic noise, and not acute noise, is related to academic achievement."

Babies and Noise

Even in the previously-thought "safe" shelter of the womb, babies' hearing can be placed at risk. A report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics concludes that exposure to excessive noise during pregnancy may result in high-frequency hearing loss in newborns, and may be associated with pre-maturity and intrauterine growth retardation.

Further studies have shown that exposure to noise in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may result in inner ear damage.

Noise Environment and Children's Learning

According to the Science Daily News Release, researchers at The Ohio State University have found that, "The acoustics of many classrooms are poor enough to make listening and learning difficult for children." The findings point to the fact that children's learning ability and speech development is hindered when they can't hear well in the classroom.