Eight years ago, four psychologists with varying backgrounds but a
common in- terest in the impact of environmental stress on behavior and
health met to plan a study of the effects of aircraft noise on children.
The impetus for the study was an article in the Los Angeles Times about
architectural interventions that were planned for several noise-impacted
schools under the air corridor of Los Angeles Interna- tional Airport.
These interventions created an opportunity to study the same chil- dren
during noise exposure and then later after the exposure had been
attenuated. The study was designed to test the generality of several
noise effects that had been well established in laboratory experimental
studies. It focused on three areas: the relationship between noise and
personal control, noise and attention, and noise and cardiovascular
response. Two years later, a second study, designed to replicate and
extend findings from the first, was conducted.