The Impact of Noise on your Kids!
12-02-2016 | Posted By: Admin | 1012 View(s)
A child’s school environment and Noise Levels can have a profound impact on their growth both physically and mentally. The attitude of young children is formed by the structures and facilities of their educational institution. The physical setting evokes complex human responses through emotions, values, beliefs, desires and feelings and it is deeply imbued in the minds of young children who are in constant contact with all these physical and abstract properties of their school. Virtuous emotional health during childhood is also related to a kid’s educational progress, healthy lifestyle and a decreased rate of the adverse socioeconomic outcome, psychological disorder, and suicidal tendencies in later life.
Insights for Teachers, Educators as well as Parents:
Research conducted by Gary Evans, an environmental psychologist at Cornell University in the United States reports that the impact of the physical environment, including overcrowding, noise level, quality of housing and neighbourhoods is as crucial as the child’s abstract surrounding that involves psycho-social traits like relationship and bonding with parents and peers. Physical environment, particularly the level of noise to which the child has been continuously exposed effects significantly their cognitive, emotional and social growth as well as academic achievements and parent’s behaviour.
Some common forms of Noise and Commotion that affect the Child:
The reading abilities of children, their cognitive development, motivational works and physiological indicators are all affected by continuous exposure to the commotion. Some of the most common noise that children face every day is the noise of transportation, music and other people. The research says of the accountable reading delay commonly found among children who reside near airports or are continuously exposed to this kind of noises. The research also reveals that these delays occur at a noise level, which is far below than what is required to cause potential hearing damage.
Effects of Continuous Exposure to Noise:
Chronic, as well as acute exposure to noise, can also pose a threat to cognitive development specifically long-term memory especially if the child has to undertake a complex task. Children tend to adapt to this chronic noise by ignoring or disregarding it. An outcome of this coping technique is that kids tune out the speech that is the basic constituent of reading. As a consequence of this, the reading abilities are affected along with reduced speech perception.
Effect of Noise on the Development of Insight and Perception:
Noise levels indirectly affect their cognitive development through its influence on other people such as parents and teachers who interact with them. It is quite obvious that a teacher in a school placed amidst a lot of the hustle and bustle would be annoyed, fatigued, and impatient when compared to the teachers in a quieter school. Teachers in the former type of school are also required to compromise on their teaching style and lose teaching time as a result of noise distraction which inevitably affects the students. A lot of children also develop various ailments later like high blood pressure and an increase in stress hormones.
What can you do to save your Child:
You as a responsive caretaker of your kids must try to reduce the level of noise and commotion instead of adding to it? Though you have been habituated and accustomed to the noisy environment, you must check the volume of the music devices, computers and televisions that your child handles and also make sure that you honk as little as possible when passing through areas housing such establishments.
Engage your Child in Proper Activities:
To cope with environmental overstimulation, children tend to ignore and tune out the speech. You must, therefore, notice whether your kids are becoming inattentive while listening to what you say. If so, then you must intervene. Children should be taken to a quieter outdoor spot like a nature park or a soundless place like a local library. This would be immensely helpful for the growth and development of your child if this can be started from as early as elementary years when the kids learn to read and write.
