US schoolchildren from ethnic minority or poorer backgrounds are much more likely to be exposed to noise pollution from cars and planes, the first effort to map the problem has found.
While white pupils make up around half of the country鈥檚 50 million schoolchildren, only 35 per cent of the pupils exposed to high levels of road traffic noise are white, Timothy Collins at the University of Utah and his colleagues found. Hispanic children, on the other hand, make up 26 per cent of school age students, but accound for nearly the same proportion of children exposed to noise: 36 per cent.
Black children are 16 per cent of the school roll, but make up 20 per cent of those highly exposed to road noise. Children on free or reduced cost school meals 鈥� a proxy for economic deprivation 鈥� make up 51 per cent of US schoolchildren, but 59 per cent of those exposed to noise.
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Noisy environments have . Collins says minorities and poorer children are often educationally disadvantaged in the first place, so the noise many of them experience at school could be compounding existing disparities.
His team came to the findings after overlaying locations of primary and secondary schools in the US, complete with data on their demographics, with which has modelled noise exposure across the country since 2017. Any road or aviation noise over 35 decibels and within 500 metres of a school was counted.
Soundproofing needed
As those noise values are 24-hour averages, and there is more traffic in the daytime when children are at school, the team have probably underestimated the children鈥檚 actual noise exposure, admits Collins.
The research also found that younger school children suffer more exposure to noise than older ones. This appears to be because schools for older children tend to have more land, with some parts of campus situated further away from roads.
The reason ethnic minorities and poorer children seem to be disproportionately affected is largely down to legacy planning decisions, says Collins. Predominantly African American areas of US cities , for example.
The research adds to a growing body of work in the US, including聽a recent study which found ethnic minorities produce less air pollution than white people but are exposed to more dirty air.
Schools should look to address the imbalance in noise exposure by soundproofing buildings, says Collins. The issue should also be factored into public authorities鈥� decisions on where to site new schools, along with traditional concerns such as cost and land availability, he says. 鈥淗aving an environmental component to that decision-making should be a priority.鈥�
Environmental Research
