Studying in Noisy Classrooms: Improving Attention and Reducing Noise Annoyance Through Interactive Workshops

• In Event: 3-246 - Learning in a Noisy World: Regulating Children’s Attention at Home and at School

Integrative Statement

Introduction
School is one of the key learning environments that children grow up in, after their family home. Yet, in a classroom, children are confronted by many auditory distractions, such as noise coming from adjacent classrooms, and speech sounds. Even when engaged in focused work, children receive intermittent advice from their teacher, or perceive bits of conversations. This noise can result in annoyance and negatively impact on students’ attentional skills (Klatte et al., 2013). Yet, little is known about the practical and effective ways to reduce it. The present study tested two types of interventions. We expected mindfulness to reduce noise levels and annoyance, while increasing attentional skills (Felver et al., 2016). In other words, the intervention would impact the regulation of attention and of behaviour. In comparison, an intervention focused on noise awareness was expected to only affect children’s sense of annoyance regarding classroom noise.

Methods
Six French elementary school classrooms were recruited (equivalent to grades 5 and 6).
In the mindfulness condition, children from two classrooms (n = 42) were trained on breathing, postural and attentional exercises. In the noise awareness condition, children from another two classrooms (n = 36) discussed the concepts of sound, noise and music. They explored the characteristics of sound with specialized materials (tablet, microphones), and were educated about the effect of noise levels on health. Both interventions were carried out by experts, during four hours, spread over two weeks. Two additional classrooms (n = 34) followed a “business as usual” curriculum.
Measures were taken before (T1), and after (T2) the interventions. Classroom noise levels were continuously monitored with newly-designed sound level meters, and averaged for the T1 and T2 periods. Children’s behavioral control and sustained attention were assessed during individual sessions, using a whack a mole and a letter cancellation task. A questionnaire included self-reported measures of annoyance about classroom noise, noise distractibility and switching skills. Finally, children performed a reading comprehension test in their classroom.

Results
For each variable, T2 values were regressed on age, T1 values and intervention groups. Although noise levels diminished both in the control and mindfulness groups, each intervention had specific effects. Children in the mindfulness group improved at the whack a mole task, compared to controls (ß = .20, p = .037). Conversely, children in the noise awareness group reported less annoyance (ß = -.33, p = .006) and distractibility (ß = -.28, p = .084) related to classroom noise, better switching skills (ß = .17, p = .082) and better sustained attention (ß = .16, p = .095) compared to controls. However, the noise awareness group had lower gains in reading comprehension, compared to the mindfulness group (ß = - .14, p = .022).

Conclusion
These results are promising regarding improving children’s tolerance to noise. They will be followed up by the evaluation of long-term interventions, implementing mindfulness and noise awareness practice in classrooms’ daily life. Time series analyses will be performed to better understand the fluctuations of noise during a school day.

Authors

• Jessica Massonnié, Birkbeck, University of London
  Presenting Author

• Philippe Frasseto, Académie de Corse
  Non-Presenting Author

• Denis Mareschal, Birkbeck, University of London
  Non-Presenting Author

• Natasha Z. Kirkham, Birkbeck, University of London
  Non-Presenting Author