High noise levels reduce performance
Wherever there are children, it’s usually a little noisier. This is almost impossible to prevent, but it can affect children’s performance and health at school.
Whether in preschools or schools—wherever there are children, things tend to get a little louder. This isn’t just because of children running around, shouting, or laughing. Slamming doors and the ringing of the school bell also create noise. Add to that conversations, squeaking chair legs, and the normal course of instruction. Modern teaching methods in particular—such as group work or project-based learning, where several students are talking at once—result in higher noise levels. The high background noise level may be further amplified by noisy hallways or a busy street around the corner, whose noise also seeps into adjacent classrooms due to poorly insulated windows or doors.
Children in particular suffer from high noise levels
Many of these noises can only be prevented to a limited extent. However, they impair performance and can even lead to health problems in the long term. Children who suffer from hearing, learning, and/or attention disorders are particularly distracted and impaired by the noise
. But that’s not all—teachers, caregivers, and preschool teachers also suffer from the high background noise levels. All the more reason to address the issue of noise prevention.
Preventing Noise Pollution—Here’s How
Various institutions offer different preventive measures to combat high noise levels. Exciting for teachers—but also for parents:
- Noise Detectives:As part of this project, students can use various measuring devices and experiment guides to assess sound and its effects themselves at their school and during class as part of “Noise Awareness Day.”
- Noise Traffic Light:The Unfallkasse Nord (the statutory accident insurance provider for the public sector in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg) provides schools with a noise traffic light free of charge for four weeks. This device displays the current noise level, allowing students to respond directly to it.
- Crime Scene: The Ear:The Unfallkasse has published the “Crime Scene: The Ear” teaching program for grades 4 through 8. The materials—such as brochures, a DVD, and a computer-based concentration test—include content relevant to subjects like science and technology, as well as German and media studies.
- Full Volume: With “Full Volume,” the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety offers a lesson unit designed to raise awareness about noise. It is aimed at grades 6 through 8.
- Brochure: Noise in Educational Institutions: In this INQA brochure, you’ll learn more about the causes of high noise levels in schools and how to improve classroom acoustics.
Hearing loss is no longer just a sign of aging—we should take care of our hearing even when we’re young. Learn more here.
