gms | German Medical Science

Background: The neighbourhood is an important determinant of children’s health, and structures to great extent how children live and grow up. Among neighbourhood properties already identified as influences that impair children’s health, noise exposure is one of the rather neglected determinants. Noise as a nonspecific stressor has short and long-term non-auditory effects on health, and it is known that children are especially vulnerable to noise stimuli [1].

Still, current research usually operationalizes neighbourhood noise with noise maps of traffic or industrial noise using quantitative approaches. Other sources of noise are hereby often ignored while noise is usually understood from an adult perspective.

However, researchers acknowledge noise generated by neighbours and other neighbourhood sources to considerably disturb neighbourhoods. Thus, it should receive more attention in neighbourhood health research [2].

Before this background, our aim was to explore neighbourhood mechanisms affecting child health, which quantitative research designs might overlook.

Methods: We investigated children’s understanding of their neighbourhood and their views on health promoting and harming factors associated with their neighbourhood in a qualitative study. We selected two after-school care centres in two city quarters characterized by high socioeconomic burden in a medium-sized German city. In these centres, we recruited 16 primary school children of the fourth grade (ages 9–12 years) for participation in the study (Nov. 2023–Feb. 2024).

We employed two participatory research methods, community mapping [3] and photovoice [4], to enable the children to reflect as a group upon their neighbourhood, discuss their neighbourhood’s resources and problems and develop ideas for a child-friendly neighbourhood. Data was gathered in ten group sessions and weekly observational fieldwork in both after-school care centres by the first author. For data analysis of field notes, session logs, community maps and photos, we used a mostly inductive approach to thematic analysis [5].

Findings: We found noise annoyance due to neighbours to be an unforeseen theme present throughout data collection. Children discussed neighbours to be a regular disturbance to their sleep as well as a general source of frustration. This included neighbours shouting, banging walls, stomping, and playing loud music. Participants defined a good neighbourhood as a quiet neighbourhood with friendly neighbours. Loud neighbours affected children’s satisfaction with their neighbourhood, as children stressed the importance of the neighbourhood social environment for their well-being. However, children did not feel in control of conflicts with neighbours and wished adults would take responsibility. We observed children to appreciate quiet places and activities. Throughout the data collection it was notable that children did not mention traffic noise as a source of noise annoyance.

Conclusion: Neighbours’ noise can be an important source of noise annoyance, affecting children’s sleep and their satisfaction with the neighbourhood. To better understand its long-term consequences for children’s health, its interplay with other social determinants of health, and to identify measures suitable to reduce this type of noise, more research is needed that includes neighbours’ noise in investigations of the relations between neighbourhood properties and children’s health.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The authors declare that a positive ethics committee vote has been obtained.