Noise Pollution Effects on Mental Fatigue and Noise Annoyance among Bank Staffs
Abstract
Noise discomfort is one of the important unpleasant physical parameters in open-plan offices. This study was aimed to investigate the status of noise pollution and its effects on subjective fatigue and noise annoyance among bank staffs. The equivalent sound pressure level (Lpeq.T) of 100 bank employees was determined during the working time. Moreover, the sound pressure level (SPL) in client waiting areas and in the outer area of the studied banks was measured. For evaluating the mental fatigue, the standard Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) questionnaire was used. Noise Annoyance Scale (NAS) questionnaire was also applied to study workplace noise annoyance and the subjective impressions of noise intensity. The mean Lpeq.T in the staff workstations, client waiting areas, and the outside area of the studied banks were determined 78.72, 61.14, and 81.32 dB (A), respectively. The mean values of the preferred noise criterion (PNC) and speech interference level (SIL) indices were 58.22 and 70.25, respectively. The results revealed that the feeling of mental fatigue and noise annoyance among bank employees were significantly affected by the Lpeq.T, level (r=0.84 and 0.90, respectively). The findings indicated that the background noise in open-plan offices increased the PNC and SIL indices which can increase the mental discomfort of staff and decrease their job performance in cognitive tasks. Reflective and rigid surfaces increased the SPL scale in the interior area of banks, and therefore it is necessary to modify the internal surfaces in these open-plan offices.
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28. Environment and Occupational Health Center (OHEC), OEL Assessment Guidline for Bioaerosols. 4th, editor. Tehran, Iran.: Centre for Environment and Health.; 2017.
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30. Picard M, Girard SA, Simard M, Larocque R, Leroux T, Turcotte F, Association of work-related accidents with noise exposure in the workplace and noise-induced hearing loss based on the experience of some 240,000 person-years of observation. Accid Anal Prev 2008. 40(5):1644-52.
31. Choosong T, Kaimook W, Tantisarasart R, Sooksamear P, Chayaphum S, Kongkamol C, et al., Noise Exposure Assessment in a Dental School. Saf Health Work 2011. 2(4):348-54.
32. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Guidance Note for Noise Action Planning, For the first round of the Environmental Noise Regulations 2006. USA: Environmental Protection Agency 2009.
33. Renz T, Leistner P, Liebl A, Effects of the location of sound masking loudspeakers on cognitive performance in open-plan offices: Local sound masking is as efficient as conventional sound masking. Appl Acoust 2018. 139:24-33.
34. Abolhasannejad V, Golmohammadi R, Aliabadi M, Soltanian AR, Khotanlou H, An image-based method for non-contact and dynamic room acoustics analysis. Appl Acoust 2018. 140:83-91.
35. Ebissou A, Parizet E, Chevret P, Use of the speech transmission index for the assessment of sound annoyance in open-plan offices. Appl Acoust 2015. 88:90-5.
36. Taylor Y, Merat N, Jamson S, The Effects of Fatigue on Cognitive Performance in Police Officers and Staff During a Forward Rotating Shift Pattern. Saf Health Work 2019. 10(1):67-74.
37. Møller H, Lydolf M, A questionnaire survey of complaints of infrasound and low-frequency noise. J LOW FREQ NOISE V A 2002. 21(2):53-63.
38. Møller H, Lydolf M, A questionnaire survey of complaints of infrasound and low-frequency noise. Noise Notes 2009.
39. Stansfeld SA, Matheson MP, Noise pollution: non-auditory effects on health. Br Med Bull 2003. 68(1):243-57.
40. Persson-Waye K, Bengtsson J, editors. Assessments of low frequency noise complaints-a follow up 14 years later. 10th International Meeting Low Frequency Noise and Vibration and its Control, York UK (Editor: HG Leventhall); 2002.
2. Basner M, Babisch W, Davis A, Brink M, Clark C, Janssen S, et al., Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health. The lancet 2014. 383(9925):1325-32.
3. Hammer MS, Swinburn TK, Neitzel RL, Environmental noise pollution in the United States: developing an effective public health response. Environ Health Perspect 2014. 122(2):115.
4. Thepaksorn P, Siriwong W, Neitzel RL, Somrongthong R, Techasrivichien T, Relationship Between Noise-Related Risk Perception, Knowledge, and the Use of Hearing Protection Devices Among Para Rubber Wood Sawmill Workers. Saf Health Work 2018. 9(1):25-9.
5. Aliabadi M, Noise control of feed water pumps in a thermal power plant. IOH 2017. 14(1):81-92.
6. Baliatsas C, van Kamp I, van Poll R, Yzermans J, Health effects from low-frequency noise and infrasound in the general population: Is it time to listen? A systematic review of observational studies. Sci Total Environ 2016. 557:163-9.
7. Moudon AV, Real noise from the urban environment: how ambient community noise affects health and what can be done about it. Am J Prev Med 2009. 37(2):167-71.
8. Na J, Joo M-K, Shin M, Huh J, Kim J-S, Piao M, et al., Low-frequency noise in multilayer MoS 2 field-effect transistors: the effect of high-k passivation. Nanoscale 2014. 6(1):433-41.
9. Golmohammadi R, Aliabadi M, Nezami T, An Experimental Study of Acoustic Comfort in Open Space Banks Based on Speech Intelligibility and Noise Annoyance Measures. Arch Acoust 2017;42(2):333-45.
10. Yang W, Hodgson M, Ceiling baffles and reflectors for controlling lecture-room sound for speech intelligibility. J Acoust Soc Am 2007. 121(6):3517-26.
11. Pedersen E, Persson Waye K, Perception and annoyance due to wind turbine noise—a dose–response relationship. J Acoust Soc Am 2004, 116(6):3460-70.
12. Schreckenberg D, Benz S, Belke C, Möhler U, Guski R, editors, The relationship between aircraft sound levels, noise annoyance and mental well-being: An analysis of moderated mediation. Proceedings of the 12th ICBEN Congress on Noise as a Public Health Problem, Zurich, Switzerland; 2017.
13. Neubauer R, Kostek B, Prediction of the reverberation time in rectangular rooms with non-uniformly distributed sound absorption. Arch Acoust 2001. 26(3).
14. Inetrnational Standard Organization. (ISO). 9921-1 : Ergonomic assessment of speech communication Geneva. Switzerland,: International Organization for Standardization; 2003 [cited 2018 12 Aug]. Available from: https://www.iso.org/standard/33589.html.
15. Petersen CM, Limiting annoying noise in open-plan offices. Reykjavik, Iceland. Citeseer; 2008. 17-9 p.
16. Yadav M, Kim J, Cabrera D, De Dear R, Auditory distraction in open-plan office environments: The effect of multi-talker acoustics. Appl Acoust 2017. 126:68-80.
17. Gharibi V, Mokarami H, Taban A, Yazdani Aval M, Samimi K, Salesi M, Effects of Work-Related Stress on Work Ability Index among Iranian Workers. Saf Health Work 2016. 7(1):43-8.
18. Gholami T, Piran Veyseh P, Aliabadi M, Farhadian M, Evaluation of noise pollution and its effects on subjective fatigue of staffs in the governmental banks of Hamadan city. IOH 2014. 11(5):65-73.
19. Motlagh MS, Golmohammadi R, Aliabadi M, Faradmal J, Ranjbar A, Empirical Study of Room Acoustic Conditions and Neurophysiologic Strain in Staff Working in Special Open-Plan Bank Offices. Acoust Aust 2018. 46:329-8.
20. Awan AG, Tahir MT, Impact of working environment on employee’s productivity: A case study of Banks and Insurance Companies in Pakistan. EJBM 2015. 7(1):329-45.
21. Smith-Jackson TL, Klein KW, Open-plan offices: Task performance and mental workload. J Environ Psychol 2009. 29(2):279-89.
22. Inetrnational Standard Organization. (ISO). 9612: Acoustics-Determination of Occupational Noise Exposure-Engineering Method 2009 [cited 2018 12 Aug]. Available from: https://www.iso.org/standard/41718.html.
23. Barron RF, Industrial noise control and acoustics. 2th, editor. USA: Marcel Dekker, Inc; 2003.
24. Shahid A, Wilkinson K, Marcu S, Shapiro CM, Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI). In: Shahid A, Wilkinson K, Marcu S, Shapiro CM, editors. STOP, THAT and One Hundred Other Sleep Scales. New York, NY: Springer New York; 2012. p. 241-3.
25. Jazani RK, Saremi M, Rezapour T, Kavousi A, Shirzad H, Influence of traffic-related noise and air pollution on self-reported fatigue. Int J Occup Saf Ergon 2015. 21(2):193-200.
26. Babisch W, Houthuijs D, Pershagen G, Cadum E, Katsouyanni K, Velonakis M, et al., Annoyance due to aircraft noise has increased over the years—results of the HYENA study. Environ Int 2009. 35(8):1169-76.
27. Dzhambov AM, Validity of self-reported traffic intensity as a proxy for road traffic counts and noise. Noise Control Eng J 2015. 63(1):11-9.
28. Environment and Occupational Health Center (OHEC), OEL Assessment Guidline for Bioaerosols. 4th, editor. Tehran, Iran.: Centre for Environment and Health.; 2017.
29. George E, Job related stress and job satisfaction: a comparative study among bank employees. J Manag Dev 2015. 34(3):316-29.
30. Picard M, Girard SA, Simard M, Larocque R, Leroux T, Turcotte F, Association of work-related accidents with noise exposure in the workplace and noise-induced hearing loss based on the experience of some 240,000 person-years of observation. Accid Anal Prev 2008. 40(5):1644-52.
31. Choosong T, Kaimook W, Tantisarasart R, Sooksamear P, Chayaphum S, Kongkamol C, et al., Noise Exposure Assessment in a Dental School. Saf Health Work 2011. 2(4):348-54.
32. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Guidance Note for Noise Action Planning, For the first round of the Environmental Noise Regulations 2006. USA: Environmental Protection Agency 2009.
33. Renz T, Leistner P, Liebl A, Effects of the location of sound masking loudspeakers on cognitive performance in open-plan offices: Local sound masking is as efficient as conventional sound masking. Appl Acoust 2018. 139:24-33.
34. Abolhasannejad V, Golmohammadi R, Aliabadi M, Soltanian AR, Khotanlou H, An image-based method for non-contact and dynamic room acoustics analysis. Appl Acoust 2018. 140:83-91.
35. Ebissou A, Parizet E, Chevret P, Use of the speech transmission index for the assessment of sound annoyance in open-plan offices. Appl Acoust 2015. 88:90-5.
36. Taylor Y, Merat N, Jamson S, The Effects of Fatigue on Cognitive Performance in Police Officers and Staff During a Forward Rotating Shift Pattern. Saf Health Work 2019. 10(1):67-74.
37. Møller H, Lydolf M, A questionnaire survey of complaints of infrasound and low-frequency noise. J LOW FREQ NOISE V A 2002. 21(2):53-63.
38. Møller H, Lydolf M, A questionnaire survey of complaints of infrasound and low-frequency noise. Noise Notes 2009.
39. Stansfeld SA, Matheson MP, Noise pollution: non-auditory effects on health. Br Med Bull 2003. 68(1):243-57.
40. Persson-Waye K, Bengtsson J, editors. Assessments of low frequency noise complaints-a follow up 14 years later. 10th International Meeting Low Frequency Noise and Vibration and its Control, York UK (Editor: HG Leventhall); 2002.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 11 No 3 (2019) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| Published | 2019-10-10 | |
| Keywords | ||
| Noise Mental Fatigue Noise annoyance Acoustic comfort Open-plan offices | ||
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
How to Cite
1.
Zare M, Farhadi S, Ahnadi M, Tolooei F, Rahimpoor R. Noise Pollution Effects on Mental Fatigue and Noise Annoyance among Bank Staffs. Int J Occup Hyg. 2019;11(3):153-163.
