The hum of conversations, sliding chairs, noise coming from the corridor, cars outside the window, the sound of ventilation. For an adult, this is often simply background noise. For a child, whose ability to direct attention is still developing, a loud classroom appears to be a much greater challenge.

Particularly interesting data is provided by a study of children aged 6–7 published in 2026. Researchers measured the actual noise levels both at school and around the children's homes over an extended period, and then observed the development of their attention. The results demonstrate something important: noise can affect different types of attention differently, and its significance can change with development.

Attention is not a single skill

When we say a child "cannot concentrate," we are lumping several different cognitive processes into one category.

• Selective attention allows one to focus on a single piece of relevant information and ignore other stimuli. In the classroom, a child uses it, for example, when listening to the teacher despite conversations coming from the adjacent desk.

• Divided attention is required when one needs to monitor more than one source of information or perform several operations simultaneously. A child might, for instance, listen to the teacher's instructions while simultaneously following text or an illustration in a notebook.

Additionally, there is working memory, inhibitory control of irrelevant reactions, and the ability to redirect attention back to a task after distraction. All these functions develop intensively during childhood. Crucially, children do not filter sounds as effectively as adults. In studies of auditory attention, the ability to ignore irrelevant noise improved with age, with adult-like performance appearing only in older children. The development of speech-in-noise comprehension skills is also linked to the development of attention.

The same ambient noise can represent a completely different cognitive load for a seven-year-old than for an adult.

What happens to a child's brain in a loud classroom?

Imagine a teacher saying: "Open your notebooks to page twelve and underline all the words...". At the same time, someone behind the child is whispering, chairs are being moved in the hallway, and a truck drives past the window.

The auditory system cannot simply "turn off" these sounds. It must separate the teacher's voice from competing signals. Then, the child must recognize the words, understand the instruction, hold its content in working memory, and execute the task.

Studies on children aged 5–7 show that in the presence of noise, word recognition can deteriorate, and responding to a task takes longer. For six- and seven-year-olds, listening effort also increased as the task continued in a noisy environment.

Performing a task correctly, but paying for it with greater cognitive effort

This is confirmed by more recent studies of working memory. In an experiment with children aged 8–10, the chatter of multiple speakers impaired performance on a more demanding working memory task. Interestingly, even when the difference in task performance was not pronounced, children reported greater effort under noisy conditions.

From a school perspective, this is highly significant. The absence of errors in an exercise does not necessarily mean that the acoustic conditions were inconsequential to the child.

In 2026, a study published in "Environmental Research" allowed for a look at the problem from a slightly different perspective. Rather than placing children in silence or artificially generated noise for a one-off test, researchers observed their actual exposure to sound.

The study involved 42 children observed at ages 6 and 7. Researchers assessed their selective and divided attention and measured sound levels over several weeks: near the children's homes, in classrooms, and in school canteens.

The results do not fit neatly into a simple "more noise = worse attention" paradigm.

Selective attention depended primarily on the child's baseline skill level and individual learning pace. For divided attention, however, a relationship associated with noise emerged: at the start of primary school, higher classroom noise was associated with lower divided attention scores.

This would be an intuitive result. But further observation brought a surprise.

Children operating in noisier environments showed greater improvement over time. The authors describe this pattern as a "catch-up" effect. A similar compensatory element appeared in analyses accounting for evening and nighttime noise exposure at home.

Should children learn in noise?

Not necessarily! The new finding is fascinating, but it is easy to draw overly broad conclusions from it. The study included only 42 children, and its observational nature does not allow us to state that noise caused faster attention development. The authors point to the possibility of adaptation to moderate exposure, but we need further research before we can speak of beneficial "training" through noise.

This is particularly true given that the broader literature primarily demonstrates the costs of unfavorable acoustic conditions.

A meta-analysis published in 2025, covering 21 studies and 152 effect sizes, showed a moderate negative impact of noise on cognitive and academic outcomes, particularly evident in children aged 6–12.

A systematic review of studies on primary school children indicates, in turn, that speech-containing noise can particularly disrupt verbal working memory, whereas environmental noise was linked to reading scores, among other outcomes.

An even earlier meta-analysis on language processing showed that noise impairs children's speech recognition accuracy, comprehension of messages, and auditory working memory performance.

The new study should therefore not be interpreted as proof that "noise is good for the brain." Rather, it shows that the developing cognitive system can partially adapt to environmental conditions, and the impact of sound depends on the type of attention analyzed, the child's age, exposure duration, and the nature of the noise itself.

Not all noise is equally disruptive

One of the most distracting sounds can be the speech of others. Words automatically compete with the linguistic information that the child is supposed to process or retain in memory. Therefore, conversations of other students can be particularly problematic during reading, memorizing instructions, or performing tasks that require working memory.

The variability of sound also matters. Sudden or distinctive noises capture attention more easily than a steady background. In a large study of children from 38 schools in Barcelona, exposure to traffic noise at school was associated with slower working memory development and greater inattentiveness. Interestingly, inside classrooms, more consistent associations were observed for noise fluctuations and events than for average sound levels alone.

This may explain the daily experience of teachers: a steady hum outside the window and a sudden shout in the hallway may have the same momentary volume, but not necessarily the same impact on attention.

The impact of noise is not identical for everyone

In studies of school-aged children, individual working memory capacity, attentional control, and noise sensitivity played key roles. Children with weaker working memory may be more susceptible to disruption in certain demanding tasks. Other studies have shown that selective attention, working memory, and individual sound sensitivity can modify how a student copes with competing voices.

Therefore, two children sitting next to each other in the same classroom may experience entirely different cognitive loads.

This also has a practical consequence: difficulty working in a noisy environment does not necessarily indicate a lack of motivation. Sometimes, a child simply expends a larger portion of their available cognitive resources on filtering out the environment before they can even begin the actual task.

A world of absolute silence

A natural environment will never be completely silent, and the new study even suggests that the developing attentional system can partially adapt to moderate sound levels. However, it is beneficial to reduce unnecessary acoustic load when the task itself requires high concentration. This can be particularly important during the delivery of new instructions, reading comprehension, memorizing information, or performing more complex tasks.

In schools, room acoustics are also vital. A long reverberation time not only increases perceived noise but also impairs speech intelligibility. Studies of first graders indicate that poorer acoustic conditions in classrooms are associated with higher perceived noise and lower student well-being.

It is therefore worth looking not only at how loud it is in the classroom, but also: where the sound comes from, whether it contains speech, whether it occurs suddenly, how long it lasts, and what task the child is performing at the time.

Silence helps, but...

Recent research does not dispute that good acoustic conditions facilitate learning for children. However, it shows that the relationship between noise and concentration is far more interesting than a simple "loud = bad" formula. In a six- or seven-year-old, the system responsible for attentional control is still actively maturing. In a noisy classroom, they must not only solve a task but also constantly decide which information is important and which can be ignored. This drains cognitive resources.

At the same time, observations of children between the ages of 6 and 7 suggest that the developing brain can, to some extent, adapt to environmental acoustic conditions. However, this is not an argument for deliberately increasing noise levels. The broader body of literature continues to indicate that excessive and unpredictable noise can hinder listening, strain working memory, and impair performance on complex tasks.

Perhaps the most important question is therefore not: "Can a child concentrate in noise?", but rather: "How much extra effort does it cost them to achieve the same result in noise?"

This is a difference that is not always visible in a notebook, but which a developing brain may feel throughout the entire lesson.

References

1. Van Renterghem, T., De Poortere, N., Thomas, P., Keppler, H., Verhulst, S., & Botteldooren, D. (2026). Decibels and development: How noise exposure at home and school influences early attentional skills. Environmental Research, 305(Pt 1), 124776. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2026.124776

2. Jones, P. R., Moore, D., & Amitay, S. (2015). Development of Auditory Selective Attention: Why Children Struggle to Hear in Noisy Environments. Developmental Psychology, 51, 353–369. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038570

3. Thompson, E. C., Carr, K. W., White-Schwoch, T., Otto-Meyer, S., & Kraus, N. (2016). Individual differences in speech-in-noise perception parallel neural speech processing and attention in preschoolers. Hearing Research, 344, 148–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heares.2016.11.007

4. Prodi, N., Visentin, C., Peretti, A., Griguolo, J., & Bartolucci, G. (2019). Investigating Listening Effort in Classrooms for 5- to 7-Year-Old Children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 50(2), 196–210. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-18-0039

5. Spicciarelli, G., Gheller, F., Celli, M., & Arfé, B. (2025). The effect of unintelligible speech noise on children’s verbal working memory performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1565112

6. Fretes, G., & Palau, R. (2025). The Impact of Noise on Learning in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis. Applied Sciences, 15. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15084128

7. Gheller, F., Spicciarelli, G., Scimemi, P., & Arfé, B. (2023). The Effects of Noise on Children’s Cognitive Performance: A Systematic Review. Environment and Behavior, 55, 698–734. https://doi.org/10.1177/00139165241245823

8. Schiller, I. S., Remacle, A., Durieux, N., & Morsomme, D. (2021). Effects of Noise and a Speaker's Impaired Voice Quality on Spoken Language Processing in School-Aged Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00183

9. Foraster, M., Esnaola, M., López-Vicente, M., Rivas, I., Álvarez-Pedrerol, M., Persavento, C., Sebastián-Gallés, N., Pujol, J., Dadvand, P., & Sunyer, J. (2022). Exposure to road traffic noise and cognitive development in schoolchildren in Barcelona, Spain: A population-based cohort study. PLOS Medicine, 19. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004001

10. Massonnié, J., Mareschal, D., & Kirkham, N. (2022). Individual Differences in Dealing With Classroom Noise Disturbances. Mind, Brain, and Education. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12322

11. Visentin, C., Pellegatti, M., Garraffa, M., Di Domenico, A., & Prodi, N. (2023). Be Quiet! Effects of Competing Speakers and Individual Characteristics on Listening Comprehension for Primary School Students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 4822. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064822

12. Astolfi, A., Puglisi, G., Murgia, S., Minelli, G., Pellerey, F., Prato, A., & Sacco, T. (2019). Influence of Classroom Acoustics on Noise Disturbance and Well-Being for First Graders. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02736