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Parents and educators have expressed fears that high noise levels in open space schools may interfere with academic achievement. This investigation compared the reading comprehension of sixty fourth grade students in an open space school during periods of quiet and periods of naturally occurring background noise. The reading tasks resembled normal class routine. Noise sessions averaged 13 dbA higher than quiet sessions. Despite this substantial difference, the noise had no significant effect on accuracy or reading speed.
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Weinstein et al. (1979) studied this question.
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