September 12, 2005 – The conclusions of a Quebec study on the impact of noise from air traffic on students’ academic performance turn out to be inaccurate.
In its edition of August 29, 2005, the newspaper Forum1, published by the University of Montreal, reported on the results of the study. These indicated that, compared to the national average, secondary V students in secondary schools located around Dorval (Montreal) airport performed less well on the examinations of the Quebec Ministry of Education.
However, on September 6, Forum disseminated on its website an update2 written by the author of the study, Michel Picard. The audiology professor indicates there to have made a “bad reading of the official data of the Ministry following a change in the format of presentation of the tables from 1999 to 2003”.
The conclusion of the study therefore turns out to be erroneous. “There is in reality no performance gap in the academic performance tests from 1996 to 2003”, concludes the researcher.
It should be noted that PasseportSanté.net had announced the results of this study, in a news item published on December 3, 2004. Since the publication of the update from the University of Montreal, we have updated this news.
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
According to Forum.
1. See on this subject the article published on August 29, 2005 in Forum : www.iforum.umontreal.ca/Forum/2005-2006/20050829/20050829_Forum.pdf [site consulté le 12 septembre 2005].
2. The update is available at www.iforum.umontreal.ca/Forum/2005-2006/20050906/miseaupoint.html [site consulté le 12 septembre 2005].
