Comparative study of levels of care in children exposed to environmental noise on three campuses in the city of Guadalajara, 2009.

Abstract

Noise is a pollutant that significantly affects the quality of life and health of individuals. Individuals exposed to noise may experience stress, discomfort, sleep disturbances, impaired immune system, lack of alertness, hearing loss (to varying degrees), cardiovascular disease, increased aggressiveness of individuals, low productivity, and traffic and workplace accidents. [WHO (1999); Berglund and Lindvall (1995); Clark et al. (2006); Haines et al. (2001)]. In the city of Guadalajara, a large number of schools are located on heavy traffic roads or busy streets, or in hot spots of environmental noise caused by motor vehicles, which exposes children and teachers who attend them to unfavorable acoustic conditions to develop their school tasks. Thus having a negative effect on their attention span, memory, and performance, as well as damaging physical and emotional health. This study aims to contribute to the study of sound quality by means of the analysis of noise conditions at elementary schools, which were located at critical points in terms of heavy vehicular flow. Besides, it analyzes the perception of environmental noise within the same facilities, and how this compares with results from schools located in quiet streets.