自然段A

Hearing impairment or other auditory function deficit in young children can have a major impact on their development of speech and communication, resulting in a detrimental effect on their ability to learn at school. This is likely to have major consequences for the individual and the population as a whole. The New Zealand Ministry of Health has found from research carried out over two decades that 6-10% of children in that country are affected by hearing loss.

自然段A：
听力障碍或其他幼儿期听觉功能缺陷可能对他们的语言和沟通能力的发展产生重大影响，进而对他们在学校学习的能力造成不利影响。这很可能对个人和整个人口产生重大后果。根据新西兰卫生部进行的长达两十年的研究发现，该国有6-10%的儿童受到听力损失的影响。

自然段B

A preliminary study in New Zealand has shown that classroom noise presents a major concern for teachers and pupils. Modern teaching practices, the organizations of desks in the classroom, poor classroom acoustics, and mechanical means of ventilation such as air-conditioning units all contribute to the number of children unable to comprehend the teacher’s voice. Education researchers Nelson and Soli have also suggested that recent trends in learning often involve collaborative interaction of multiple minds and tools as much as individual possession of information. This all amounts to heightened activity and noise levels, which have the potential to be particularly serious for children experiencing auditory function deficit. Noise in classroom can only exacerbate their difficulty in comprehending and processing verbal communication with other children and instructions from the teacher.

自然段B：
新西兰的一项初步研究显示，教室噪音对教师和学生构成了重大问题。现代教学方法、教室中的桌子布置、教室声学差、以及空调机组等机械通风手段都会导致无法理解教师的声音的学生增加。教育研究者纳尔逊和索利还指出，最近的学习趋势往往涉及多个思维和工具之间的合作互动，而不仅仅是个人获取信息。这都会增加活动和噪音水平，对于听觉功能缺陷的儿童可能尤为严重。教室中的噪音只会加剧他们在理解和处理来自其他孩子的口头交流和教师指令方面的困难。

自然段C

Children with auditory function deficit are potentially failing to learn to their maximum potential because of noise levels generated in classrooms. The effects of noise on the ability of children to learn effectively in typical classroom environment are now the subjects of increasing concern. The International Institute of Noise Control Engineering (I-INCE), on the advice of the World Health Organization, has established an international working party, which includes New Zealand, to evaluate noise and reverberation control for school rooms.

自然段C：
由于教室中产生的噪音水平，听觉功能缺陷的儿童潜在地未能充分发挥其学习潜力。噪音对儿童在典型教室环境中有效学习能力的影响现在越来越引起人们的关注。国际噪声控制工程学会（I-INCE）根据世界卫生组织的建议成立了一个包括新西兰在内的国际工作组，评估学校教室的噪声和回声控制。

自然段D

While the detrimental effects of noise in classroom situations are not limited to children experiencing disability, those with a disability that affects their processing of speech and verbal communication could be extremely vulnerable. The auditory function deficits in question include hearing impairment, autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit disorders (ADD/ADHD).

自然段D：
尽管教室噪音的不利影响并不局限于患有残疾的儿童，但那些受到影响的残疾儿童可能极为脆弱。涉及的听觉功能缺陷包括听力障碍、自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）和注意力缺陷障碍（ADD/ADHD）。

自然段E

Autism is considered a neurological and genetic life-long disorder that causes discrepancies in the way information is processed. This disorder is characterized by interlinking problems with social imagination, social communication and social interaction. According to Janzen, this affects the ability to understand and relate in typical ways to people, understand events and objects in the environment, and understand or respond to sensory stimuli. Autism does not allow learning or thinking in the same ways as in children who are developing normally. Autistic spectrum disorders often result in major difficulties in comprehending verbal information and speech processing. Those experiencing these disorders often find sounds such as crowd noise and the noise generated by machinery painful and distressing. This is difficult to scientifically quantify as such extra-sensory stimuli vary greatly from one autistic individual to another. But a child who finds any type of noise in their classroom or learning space intrusive is likely to be adversely affected in their ability to process information.

自然段E：
自闭症被认为是一种神经和遗传的终身障碍，会导致信息处理方式上的差异。这种障碍以社交想象力、社交沟通和社交互动的问题为特征。根据扬森的说法，这影响了以典型方式理解和与他人互动、理解环境中的事件和物体，以及理解或对感官刺激作出反应的能力。自闭症不允许像正常发展的儿童那样学习或思考。自闭症谱系障碍常常导致在理解口头信息和语言处理方面存在重大困难。那些经历这些障碍的人往往会发现诸如人群噪音和机器产生的噪音令人痛苦和困扰。这很难从科学上量化，因为这些额外的感官刺激在不同的自闭症患者之间差异很大。但是，一个在教室或学习空间中发现任何类型噪音具有干扰性的孩子可能在处理信息的能力上受到不利影响。

自然段F

The attention deficit disorders are indicative of neurological and genetic disorders and are characterized by difficulties with sustaining attention, effort and persistence, organization skills and disinhibition. Children experiencing these disorders find it difficult to screen out unimportant information, and focus on everything in the environment rather than attending to a single activity. Background noise in the classroom becomes a major distraction, which can affect their ability to concentrate.

自然段F：
注意力缺陷障碍是一种神经和遗传性障碍，其特征包括注意力维持、努力和持久性、组织技能和抑制能力方面的困难。患有这些障碍的儿童很难筛选出不重要的信息，而是关注环境中的一切而不是专注于单个活动。教室中的背景噪音成为一个重要的分散注意力的干扰因素，可能影响他们的注意力集中能力。

自然段G

Children experiencing an auditory function deficit can often find speech and communication very difficult to isolate and process when set against high levels of background noise. These levels come from outside activities that penetrate the classroom structure, from teaching activities, and other noise generated inside, which can be exacerbated by room reverberation. Strategies are needed to obtain the optimum classroom construction and perhaps a change in classroom culture and methods of teaching. In particular, the effects of noisy classrooms and activities on those experiencing disabilities in the form of auditory function deficit need thorough investigation. It is probable that many undiagnosed children exist in the education system with ‘invisible’ disabilities. Their needs are less likely to be met than those of children with known disabilities.

自然段G：
听觉功能缺陷的儿童在高噪音背景下通常很难独立和处理语言和沟通。这些噪音来自渗透教室结构的外部活动、教学活动和内部产生的其他噪音，可能会加剧教室内的回声。我们需要采取策略来获得最佳的教室建设，也许需要改变教室文化和教学方法。特别是需要对那些在听觉功能缺陷方面存在残疾的儿童的噪音教室和活动的影响进行彻底调查。很可能教育系统中存在许多未经诊断的“看不见的”残疾儿童。与已知残疾的儿童相比，他们的需求更不可能得到满足。

自然段H

The New Zealand Government has developed a New Zealand Disability Strategy and has embarked on a wide-ranging consultation process. The strategy recognizes that people experiencing disability face significant barriers in achieving a full quality of life in areas such as attitude, education, employment and access to services. Objective 3 of the New Zealand Disability Strategy is to ‘Provide the Best Education for Disabled People’ by improving education so that all children, youth learners and adult learners will have equal opportunities to learn and develop within their already existing local school. For a successful education, the learning environment is vitally significant, so any effort to improve this is likely to be of great benefit to all children, but especially to those with auditory function disabilities.

自然段H：
新西兰政府制定了新西兰残疾战略，并展开了一项广泛的咨询过程。该战略认识到残疾人在态度、教育、就业和获取服务等方面面临重大障碍，影响他们实现全面的生活质量。新西兰残疾战略的第三个目标是通过改善教育，使所有儿童、青年学习者和成年学习者都能在已有的当地学校获得平等机会来“为残疾人提供最佳教育”。对于成功的教育来说，学习环境非常重要，因此任何改进这一点的努力都有可能对所有儿童产生巨大好处，尤其是对那些有听觉功能障碍的儿童。

自然段I

A number of countries are already in the process of formulating their own standards for the control and reduction of classroom noise. New Zealand will probably follow their example. The literature to date on noise in school rooms appears to focus on the effects on schoolchildren in general, their teachers and the hearing impaired. Only limited attention appears to have been given to those students experiencing the other disabilities involving auditory function deficit. It is imperative that the needs of these children are taken into account in the setting of appropriate international standards to be promulgated in future.