The Effect of Early Evening and Nighttime Aircraft Noise on Children's Learning

Project 25's goal is to understand the impact of aircraft noise on sleep, and to develop models that predict sleep disruption for a given aircraft noise profile. Chronic sleep disturbance is associated with multiple health issues including cognitive difficulties, exhaustion, high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression. The amount of time spent in different sleep stages is important in terms of physical and psychological well being. What is not fully understood is how much aircraft noise impacts sleep in communities around airports, and how impacts due to aircraft noise compare with those due to other things (other noise sources, weight, age, stress, etc.) that are known to affect sleep. Models that predict the probability of being in different sleep stages given different profiles of night-time noise exposure are being examined, as are models that predict awakenings.