| APPLIED ASPECTS OF AUDITORY DISTRACTION |
|
| Year : 2010 | Volume
: 12
| Issue : 49 | Page : 244--254 |
The effects of road traffic and aircraft noise exposure on children's episodic memory: The RANCH Project
Mark Matheson1, Charlotte Clark1, Rocio Martin2, Elise van Kempen3, Mary Haines4, Isabel Lopez Barrio2, Staffan Hygge5, Stephen Stansfeld1
1 Centre for Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Old Anatomy Building, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, United Kingdom
2 Instituto de Acustica, CSIC (Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Científicas), Madrid, Spain
3 Centre for Environmental Health Research, National Institute for Public Health and Environment RIVM, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
4 The Sax Institute, Sydney, NSW, Australia
5 Laboratory of Applied Psychology, Centre for Built Environment, University of Gavle, Gavle, Sweden
Correspondence Address:
Charlotte Clark
Centre for Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Old Anatomy Building, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ
United Kingdom
 Source of Support: European Community QLRT-2000-00197, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/1463-1741.70503
Previous studies have found that chronic exposure to aircraft noise has a negative effect on children's performance on tests of episodic memory. The present study extended the design of earlier studies in three ways: firstly, by examining the effects of two noise sources, aircraft and road traffic, secondly, by examining exposure-effect relationships, and thirdly, by carrying out parallel field studies in three European countries, allowing cross-country comparisons to be made. A total of 2844 children aged between 8 years 10 months and 12 years 10 months (mean age 10 years 6 months) completed classroom-based tests of cued recall, recognition memory and prospective memory. Questionnaires were also completed by the children and their parents in order to provide information about socioeconomic context. Multilevel modeling analysis revealed aircraft noise to be associated with an impairment of recognition memory in a linear exposure-effect relationship. The analysis also found road traffic noise to be associated with improved performance on cued recall in a linear exposure-effect relationship. No significant association was found between exposure to aircraft noise and cued recall or prospective memory. Likewise, no significant association was found between road traffic noise and recognition or prospective memory. Taken together, these findings indicate that exposure to aircraft noise and road traffic noise can impact on certain aspects of children's episodic memory.
[FULL TEXT] [PDF]*
|
Search Pubmed for
