Effects of aircraft noise on reading ability of school-age children

The percent of students reading below grade level from 1972 to 1976 was regressed on racial, socioeconomic, educational, and noise level variables for all elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. Schools were assigned noise exposure scores based on Noise Exposure Forecast contours for New York City airports. The correlations between these noise scores and a variety of noise level metrics ranged from 0.74 to 0.97. The regression coefficients adjusted for confounding factors, indicated that an additional 3.6% of the students in the noisiest schools read at least 1 yr below grade level with 95% confidence limits from 1.5 to 5.8%. The dose-response relationship indicated that the percent reading below grade level increased as noise level increased.