Children living under the flightpath of Heathrow airport might seem to have little in common with youngsters growing up on Scotland's remote north coast. But teachers at both ends of the country can testify to the distress that noise pollution causes young children.
Dee Strange, head of Beavers Community Primary School in Hounslow, near Heathrow, says, 'The planes come over every minute or two and the windows rattle. It is very unpleasant and I think particularly younger children really do suffer. They find it very frightening.' Some 700 miles north in Scotland, Durness is the nearest village to an RAF weapons-testing area. Military exercises are infrequent, but school head Graham Bruce agrees that they do have an impact on the community. He says, 'In June there was an exercise with enormous bombs going off, and seriously low flying - the kind where you can see the pilot and the expression on his face. It is something that children can get terribly upset about.' The UK Noise Association lobbies at local and national level to highlight these sorts of problems. They identify road traffic noise as a main culprit. It accounts for 66 per cent of the total noise generated outside the home in the UK, with 32 million people exposed to high levels (55-75 decibels). And statistics for the UK before 11 September show a 6 per cent annual growth in aircraft usage, with 310 million passengers predicted to be flying in 2015, compared with 129.6 million in 1995.
But the term 'noise pollution' equally applies to fireworks, piped music, ventilation systems, even interactive toys. This last is a serious concern for Deepak Prasher, professor of audiology at University College London, who wants controls on toys introduced. 'Currently noise is not considered as part of the safety measures,' he says. 'The toy manufacturers say, show us how many children are damaged. But how many do you need to have damaged before you do something?' According to John Stewart, chair of the Noise Association, noise is the 'forgotten pollution', lagging behind other campaign issues like clean air and global warming. But he cites recent European studies that suggest that exposure to constant noise can harm children's health, behaviour and education.
He says, 'The evidence is that children are beginning to get used to noise. Research shows that around a fifth of young people cannot go to bed without some sort of noise in the background, suggesting that noise has become such a way of life that silence makes them jumpy.' He wants to see a study into long-term effects. 'I have no doubt that by the time today's under-fives are parents themselves, they will be damaged so that they would find it difficult to live without noise,' he says. 'The best way to relax is to go somewhere and sit in absolute silence. If people don't know how to do that, it is a recipe for a stressful life.' The Association calls for practical measures such as quieter aircraft engines, traffic-calming, reduced traffic volume, and at least some of these issues receive Government backing - for example, 60 per cent of the main road network is scheduled to be laid with quieter surfaces over the next decade. And from this year, for the first time, new schools will be subject to building regulations requiring them to have suitable acoustics.
Professor Prasher says that exterior noise or poor classroom acoustics can particularly affect children who have existing learning difficulties. But, surprisingly, children somehow 'recover' once noise is eliminated. 'Children are very resilient. They do bounce back,' he says.
But Dee Strange fears that her pupils in Hounslow, many from poor socio-economic backgrounds, face extra obstacles to learning when they are within a school that is bounded by roads and bombarded by constant aircraft noise, and has an ageing soundproofing/air conditioning system circulating stale air, with all its attendant health problems.
'It affects the concentration of all age groups. With the youngest, if you ask them to do a task, they don't complete it, or if you explain things, there are a number of children who have missed what has been said.' She suspects that it may lead to high numbers of children with speech and language difficulties, not to mention stressed-out staff.
Her school has extensive grounds, but the children never get the peace to play properly. 'When they are in the playground with jets roaring overhead they cannot hear their friends.' Another Hounslow school admits that noise may be the reason why wild animals don't seem terribly keen on their conservation garden, a project developed with help from the British Airports Authority's community links programme. Cranford Infant and Nursery School's community links and nursery co-ordinator Rajindar Jasmull stresses that the Authority is sympathetic towards their difficulties - two classrooms have already been fitted with BAA-funded sealed window units, with more due this spring.
But Mrs Jasmull says pupils are still affected. 'In the classroom, the noise level just goes up. The teacher speaks above the noise, and the children raise their voices above that.
'With the youngest ones, they don't seem to notice it that much. They do get to the stage where they ignore it. It's like with my own children - if you take them away to the country, they say it's too quiet.' Yet some nurseries survive a noisy location and even gain a measure of advantage from it. One of Happitots Day Nurseries' units is sited between the M8 motorway and Glasgow airport. The nursery's Pauline Dolan says that despite these apparent drawbacks, the nursery suffers few problems and staff in fact turn any intrusive noise into a topic for discussion. The proximity of the airport is even put to good use for outings as part of transport projects.
'Our windows are double-glazed and it is only noticeable when fast jets take off. Inside there is so much going on with music and play that it isn't an issue,' says Ms Dolan. 'It's really only when children are outside that they notice the aircraft, or maybe hear a fire engine on the motorway. That's always exciting for any child and we can have a talk about it.' But staff need not strain to look on the brighter side. Acoustic design consultant Adrian James has identified a number of low-cost solutions to tackling noise pollution. His commercial consultancy specialises in designing acoustically sensitive and difficult spaces, including schools and nurseries. He is currently advising the DfES on its new Building Bulletin on Acoustics for Schools (due out early 2002), a document which sets out recommended criteria for noise levels and room acoustics in schools and provides advice on how they can be achieved.
Mr James says there is a growing interest in the subject, particularly given the move to integrate special educational needs pupils in mainstream schools. High background noise and poor reverberant conditions affect all children, not just those who have impaired hearing.
He says, 'Just because the kids are sometimes noisy themselves doesn't mean that you don't design for the quiet periods. In several commercial nurseries we have been called in to sort out noise from ventilation and other plant systems which has been a loud, low-frequency hum or roar, which both children and staff find very disturbing.' Eliminating external noise may require special constructions, such as secondary glazing and heavy isolated roof constructions.
Mr James recommends using full-height partitioning and corridors as 'buffer zones' to separate quiet (sleeping, reading) areas from noisy ones. Problem acoustics, often caused by having too many hard, wipe-clean surfaces and high ceilings, can be overcome by adding acoustically absorbent finishes. Some schools are investigating mini PA systems, which will give teachers' voices a vital three-or four-decibel boost.
Schools around Heathrow airport need all the help they can get, since plans for the construction of a fifth terminal there were announced. Dee Strange, who gave evidence at the public inquiry, believes now is the time to consider even the simplest, environmentally friendly solutions for the sake of future generations - things like tree-planting, both to muffle noise and to create an appealing play area beneath a canopy of branches.
As she says, 'For little children, looking up into leaves, or following a vine-covered trail, is surely better than looking up at a jet.'