London (PA Media/dpa) – A new study will investigate whether noise levels in nurseries affect the language development of babies. Researchers at the University of East London said nearly 2 million children in the UK are affected by early language delays, with rates around double among those from disadvantaged backgrounds. They want to find out whether background noise in nurseries affects early language development and what action could be taken. Evidence suggests children who struggle to talk and understand words can be affected throughout their lives. They are six times more likely to be behind in English at age 11, and 11 times more likely to be behind in maths, according to Speech and Language UK. They also have more mental health problems and are twice as likely to be unemployed as an adult. The research will be carried out by the Institute for the Science of Early Years at the University of East London, supported by the Nuffield Foundation. Dr Gemma Goldenberg, lead researcher for the project, told the Press Association that nurseries are “multi-talker environments with a lot of children and adults present in one room”. She added: “We know that young children find it particularly hard to hear well in these environments as the ability to pick out one speech stream, within background noise of other speakers, develops slowly and doesn’t fully develop until children are around 13 years of age. “So even though we can hear one person easily in a multi-talker environment (eg when we are in a pub or restaurant), we forget that children struggle with this.” She said many children spend the majority of their waking hours in a nursery environment, including due to government expansion of funding for childcare. “This means more children than ever before will be spending time in nurseries during the period of time when they are developing their early language skills. “What’s special about this study is it won’t artificially create different levels of noise and study its impact in a laboratory, with children coming into the room one at a time and completing tasks. “Instead, it will study children and noise levels in real nursery environments and use the latest cutting-edge technology and machine learning to track how moment-by-moment fluctuations in noise affect children’s language and communication in real time, as well as looking at the effects over hours and days as well.” The study will involve 250 children aged 12 to 24 months across 10 nurseries in disadvantaged regions. Researchers will use wearable microphones, cameras and monitors to investigate how environmental factors and how clearly people speak and communicate influence the development of language. Solutions will be tested such as low-cost noise soundproofing as well as training staff to improve the clarity of communication. This might include looking at the rhythm of speech, facial visibility and use of gestures when communicating with children. Researchers hope the study, which includes a partnership with the Early Years Alliance, could inform national policy. Dr Goldenberg said: “We hope the research will draw attention to the powerful impact of noise and will encourage policymakers to think about acoustic standards for early years settings, and about the lack of ‘maximum numbers’ in early years settings. “At the moment there are rules about adult to child ratio but no maximum number of children per room, so you could have 30 babies in one room, as long as you had enough adults to meet the ratio. “This means those young children are in very noisy environments as one of those babies is probably crying at every moment of the day.” She said the study is “about giving every child the best possible start in life, particularly those facing the greatest disadvantage”. The following information is not intended for publication dpa pa arw
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