Children's annoyance reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise

Since annoyance reactions of children to environmental noise have rarely been investigated, no source specific exposure-response relations are available. The aim of this paper is to investigate children's reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise and to derive exposure-response relations. To this end, children's annoyance reactions to aircraft and road traffic noise in both the home and the school setting were investigated using the data gathered in a cross-sectional multicenter study, carried out among 2844 children (age 9 - 11 years ) attending 89 primary schools around three European airports. An exposure-response relation was demonstrated between exposure to aircraft noise at school ( L A eq , 7 - 23 h ) and severe annoyance in children: after adjustment for confounders, the percentage severely annoyed children was predicted to increase from about 5.1% at 50 dB to about 12.1% at 60 dB . The findings were consistent across the three samples. Aircraft noise at home ( L A eq , 7 - 23 h ) demonstrated a similar relation with severe annoyance. Children attending schools with higher road traffic noise ( L A eq , 7 - 23 h ) were more annoyed. Although children were less annoyed at levels above 55 dB , the shapes of the exposure-response relations found among children were comparable to those found in their parents.