Noise is known to influence human cognitive performance such as auditory selective attention. Not only cognitive abilities, but also physiological reactions can be measured when being exposed to noise. In comparison to adults, children are even more exposed to noise. Especially in educational buildings, such as schools, children are confronted with many different sound sources, including noise, coming from different directions. Therefore, it is of interest to which extent the noise causes stress for children and whether it can affect their development and learning performance. To ensure the latter two aspects, it is of interest to investigate whether there is a relation between intentional auditory attention switches and the physiological reactions of children. In an earlier study, the relation between auditory selective attention and heart rate variability was investigated in young adults. This work examines the relation between children’s auditory selective attention and the heart rate variability (HRV) while being exposed to different noise settings. A listening experiment was conducted with 30 normal-hearing children aged between six and nine using a validated child appropriate paradigm on intentional switching of auditory selective attention. A non-obtrusive measurement method was chosen to obtain the electrocardiography without affecting the rest of the experiment. Afterwards, suitable HRV parameters were evaluated, and their interactions with the parameters concerning auditory selective attention was assessed statistically. A strong interaction was found between noise and dropping HRV, indicating a higher stress level in children while being exposed to noise. A simultaneous rise in erroneous responses could be observed. Additionally, the performance of the children improved for more challenging cognitive tasks. Unexpectedly, HRV did not sink but rose instead simultaneously. Therefore, further studies should further investigate the relationship between cognitive tasks and HRV of children. The interaction between HRV and noise should also be further examined for example by evaluating the effect of different noise levels on HRV on children.

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