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Abstract
Background noise has become part of our everyday life in modern societies. Its presence
affects both the ability to concentrate and communicate. Some individuals, like children,
the elderly, and non-native speakers have pronounced problems in noisy environments.
Here we review evidence suggesting that background noise has both transient and sustained
detrimental effects on central speech processing. Studies on the effects of noise
on neural processes have demonstrated hemispheric reorganization in speech processing
in adult individuals during background noise. During noise, the well-known left hemisphere
dominance in speech discrimination became right hemisphere preponderant. Furthermore,
long-term exposure to noise has a persistent effect on the brain organization of speech
processing and attention control. These results both stress the importance to re-evaluate
which noise levels can be considered safe for brain functions and raise concerns on
the speech and cognitive abilities of individuals living in noisy environments.