Background noise hinders communication development

I came across this very interesting article about very young children's abilities to learn, being affected by background noises - for this we should read the TV being on constantly.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20101114/tuk-toddlers-learning-hit-by-noise-6323e80.html

I have mentioned before my concerns of very noisy classrooms and learning environments. Some classrooms are badly designed so that acoustically they are either difficult for pupils to hear the teacher, or for the teacher to project his/her voice; everything echoes in the classroom as the materials do not absorb sound, or even that the walls between classrooms are so thin, that noise from other classrooms travels, disturbing pupils and making the work environment noisy.

In our lives we are so used to having noise around us: whether it is traffic, the TV or listening to an ipod. Yet the TV and ipods are very passive; we do not involve ourselves or engage. My concerns are that children do not learn to listen; to engage someone else in a conversation; to question; to ask or even maintain a two way conversation, because there are things that distract them.

I read (but can't find the article - sorry) that research showed that students studying for exams, that played with Facebook; their mobiles etc whilst revising scored an average of 20% less in their exams. The sample and control were large enough numbers that this was significant research.

Given that this research could imply that distractions could cause 20% less learning and work outcomes, we do need to consider work environments - whether they are in schools or in business.