来源：《新科学家》
原文刊登日期：2022年6月2日
Road traffic noise outside schools may impair the development of a child’s attention span and short-term memory. Previous studies have shown that noise pollution from road traffic can disrupt sleep and increase stress in adults. Meanwhile, local aircraft noise has been shown to reduce academic performance and reading comprehension in children. However, it wasn’t known whether road traffic noise outside schools impacts cognitive development in children.
学校外的道路交通噪音可能损害儿童注意力持续时间和短期记忆的发展。此前的研究表明，道路交通造成的噪音污染会扰乱成年人的睡眠，增加精神压力。与此同时，当地的飞机噪音已被证明会降低儿童的学习成绩和阅读理解能力。然而，目前尚不清楚学校外的道路交通噪音是否会影响儿童的认知发展。
To learn more, Maria Foraster at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and her colleagues recruited 2680 children aged 7 to 10 from 38 schools throughout Barcelona.
为了了解更多信息，巴塞罗那全球卫生研究所的Foraster和同事从巴塞罗那各地的38所学校招募了2680名7至10岁的儿童。
The researchers stood in a certain point of each school and measured the noise coming in from the outside before lessons began. This was repeated six months later to calculate an average baseline level of noise pollution at each site.
研究人员站在每个学校的某个地点，在上课前测量从外面进来的噪音。六个月后，重复这一过程，以计算每个地点的噪声污染平均基线水平。
Using online cognitive tests, the team tested the children’s short-term memory and attentiveness every three months for a year.
研究小组使用网上认知测试，每三个月对孩子们的短期记忆和注意力进行一次测试，持续一年。
The children in schools with higher average indoor noise levels – defined as above 30 decibels, about the volume of whispering – saw a slower improvement in attentiveness, measured by comparing their performance on tests at the start of the year with those at the end of the year.
室内平均噪音水平(定义为30分贝以上，30分贝相当于窃窃私语的音量)较高的学校里的孩子，注意力的提高较慢，这是通过比较他们在年初和年底的测试成绩得出的结论。
Further analysis revealed that a greater level of fluctuation in indoor noise levels was more strongly associated with a slower improvement of both working memory and attentiveness, compared with more consistent noise levels.
进一步的分析表明，与更稳定的噪音水平相比，室内噪音水平波动越大，短期记忆力和注意力的改善就越慢。
“This study has broken new ground in studies of environmental noise and children’s learning,” says Stephen Stansfeld at Queen Mary University of London. Children may be more likely to notice fluctuating noise levels, he says. “Attention to noise may interfere with their attention to other tasks related to normal cognitive development.”
伦敦玛丽皇后大学的斯蒂芬·斯坦斯菲尔德说：“这项研究在环境噪音和儿童学习方面开辟了新领域。”他说，孩子们可能更容易注意到波动的噪音水平。“对噪音的关注可能会干扰他们对与正常认知发展相关的其他任务的注意力。”
The analysis accounted for levels of local air pollution, as well as the socioeconomic status, age and sex of the participants. “They have adjusted for a very wide range of potential confounding factors in their analyses, thus ruling out many other explanations,” says Stansfeld.
这项分析包括了当地的空气污染水平，以及参与者的社会经济地位、年龄和性别。斯坦斯菲尔德说：“他们在分析中对各种潜在的混杂因素进行了调整，从而排除了许多其他解释。”
Nevertheless, further research with a more diverse group of participants is required. For example, “the sample of families involved in this study was better educated than the general population”, he says.
然而，还需要对更多样化的参与者群体进行进一步的研究。他说，例如，“参与这项研究的家庭样本的受教育程度高于普通人群”。