Social disparities in exposure to noise at public schools in the contiguous United States.

ABSTRACT

Children are vulnerable to environmental hazards and spend significant portions of their days at school. However, just one national-level study has examined school-level environmental inequalities (in air pollution exposures), and none have examined disparate exposures to noise pollution, even though noise impacts children's health and development. We integrated data from 2014-2015 on the locations and socio-demographics of each public school in the contiguous US (n=94,432) with road and aviation transportation noise estimates. Using bivariate and multivariate statistics, we tested for disparities in road and aviation noise exposure across schools. Among the 49,697,890 children attending contiguous US public schools, we found that those attending schools most highly exposed to road noise or aviation noise were significantly more likely to be eligible for free/reduced price meals (economically deprived), and to be Hispanic, black, or Asian/Pacific Islander (API). They were less likely to be white or of another race. In multivariate generalized estimating equations (GEEs) controlling for school district effects, we found that schools with greater proportions of Hispanic, black or API students, schools with higher enrollment, and schools serving the youngest students had significantly more road noise and greater odds of aviation noise exposure. In the GEEs, a higher proportion of economically-deprived students in schools was associated with greater road noise, but not aviation noise. Overall, our analyses indicate that America's racial/ethnic minority children bear the brunt of transportation noise exposures at school, which may unequally impact their academic performance, health, and future potential.