Noise pollution disrupts children's reading skills

©Pixabay/carlovenson

A recent study reveals that in Europe, transport noise disrupts the reading learning of 550,000 children. Behind these figures, it is the general health of the younger generations that is at stake, faced with a society that is going off the rails.

An unpleasant background noise… According to a damning report from the European Environment Agency relayed by France Info, 550,000 children suffer from reading disorders caused by noise pollution. Among them, an overwhelming majority (84%) suffer from road traffic noise. “Chronic exposure to noise can seriously hamper concentration and memorization,” warns the Agency. A problem that is often invisible, but cannot be ignored.

The consequences of this scourge go far beyond simple educational difficulties. Urban areas, where traffic noise is omnipresent, are increasingly concentrated in vulnerable populations. In addition to reading disorders, this noise pollution promotes anxiety, cognitive disorders and mental illness. “Noise pollution is now one of the main environmental stressors”, underlines the EEA. This observation is alarming, especially since one in five children in the European Union lives in an environment where noise exceeds the thresholds of danger to health.

However, the authorities still seem to downplay the phenomenon. “More than 20% of Europeans are exposed to levels of noise harmful to health”, the report points out. In urban areas, this figure rises to 50%. Entire populations live to the rhythm of traffic, condemned to invisible and silent suffering. “It is not just a nuisance, but a deterioration in living conditions,” insists an expert quoted by France Info. The question now is how many more generations will have to pay for the unbridled urbanization of our society.

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