Impact of Sounds on Cognitive Performance and Behaviour in School-Age Children: A Scoping Review 2023–2026

The impact of the auditory environment on children’s performance and behaviour remains to be systematically explained by clarifying mechanisms and individual differences. This PRISMA scoping review covers peer-reviewed journal articles published in English from March 2023 to February 2026. It updates previous reviews and uniquely maps out: (1) What sounds impacted children’s performance and behaviour; (2) Why; (3) For whom. MEDLINE Complete, PsychInfo, Scopus, WebofScience were searched. Articles had to include at least one objective sound measurement, one comparison of conditions, and one quantitative or qualitative measure of performance/behaviour. Articles that only reported neurophysiological measures, focused on cochlear implants, speech intelligibility, and listening comprehension were excluded. A total of 886 papers were retrieved, and 67 full texts were checked, with 20 being included. Participants, sound conditions, performance measures, study design, results, and theories were charted. Results suggest that classroom sounds levels may mask teaching information, increasing cognitive load, effort, and reducing performance. Steady sounds (white noise) can facilitate short-term performance. Attentional demands and phonological information in background sounds are likely to negatively impact short-term memory and performance at complex (dual) memory tasks. Individual differences in overall cognitive ability, attentional skills, stress and arousal are promising mechanisms to further investigate. Future research may embrace neurodiversity, systematically measure mechanisms and link results back to theory.