Sounds and noises in the classroom: perspectives from children with sensory needs in the UK

Several mechanisms have been proposed to understand the impact of unwanted sounds on children’s performance and behaviour in the classroom: arousal, stress, control and predictability, executive functions, social attribution, and interference with the processes involved in the learning task. There is, however, a lack of studies involving children with special needs and testing whether these theories can be applied to understand their own experience of the classroom environment. In this study, 23 children with sensory needs, aged 7-10 and attending UK mainstreams classrooms were interviewed. Framework analysis was used to synthesise how classroom noise influences their classroom experience at a social, emotional, cognitive and behavioural level. Children’s interpretation of social situations was underlying their emotional responses to noise, showing the need to ask for their perspective directly. At a cognitive level, their responses hinted towards executive function mechanisms, with noise interfering with attentional and working memory processes. At a behavioural level, the extent to which children have a choice over their seating position in the classroom can influence whether they can self-regulate their exposure to noise. Methodologically speaking, this study shows that children reported their sensory experience in a consistent and coherent way, encouraging future research in this area.