title: A prospective study of some effects of aircraft noise on cognitive performance in schoolchildren.
abstract: Before the opening of the new Munich International Airport and the termination of the old airport, children near both sites were recruited into aircraft-noise groups (aircraft noise at present or pending) and control groups with no aircraft noise (closely matched for socioeconomic status). A total of 326 children (mean age = 10.4 years) took part in three data-collection waves, one before and two after the switch-over of the airports. After the switch, long-term memory and reading were impaired in the noise group at the new airport. and improved in the formerly noise-exposed group at the old airport. Short-term memory also improved in the latter group after the old airport was closed. At the new airport, speech perception was impaired in the newly noise-exposed group. Mediational analyses suggest that poorer reading was not mediated by speech perception, and that impaired recall was in part mediated by reading.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Built Environment, University of Gävle, Sweden. staffan.hygge@hig.se
authors.forename: Staffan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hygge
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bullinger
mesh_terms: D000401:Aircraft; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009624:Noise, Transportation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011932:Reading; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013067:Speech Perception