Sounding the Alarm on the Disproportionate Distribution of Sirens on Students of Color

Abstract

Noise pollution is highly consequential to children’s learning and general well-being (Klatte et al., 2013; Balk et al., 2023; Masud et al., 2020). Sirens emanating from emergency services pose particularly adverse consequences to students’ well-being and academic performance (Gheewalla et al., 2021). As signals of danger, sirens are shown to induce psychological and physiological reactions, including emotional distress, changes in blood pressure, and increased heart rate and blood glucose (Lapid Pickman et al., 2021; Manor et al., 2023). Prior studies have shown that schools with higher proportions of students of color are disproportionately exposed to noise pollution. Through this study, I employ a multi-phase, mixed methods approach to examine whether students of color in Massachusetts are disproportionately exposed to sirens in the classroom, potentially compounding existing stressors and contributing to academic disparities. In Phase One, I draw upon spatial data science to determine which schools and students in Massachusetts are at risk of experiencing sirens frequently throughout the school day. In Phase Two, I build upon the results from Phase One to survey students and educators attending a school my initial findings deemed were at risk of exposure to emergency sirens to determine how sirens impact the learning environment. I find that students of color and schools in urban areas in Massachusetts are disproportionately exposed to sirens. Furthermore, I find that the majority of students report being distracted for at least ten seconds when they hear sirens in the classroom. Finally, I find that sirens can serve as a trigger of past traumatic events in both students and educators, potentially adding additional stressors to the learning environment.