Study Noise Effects on The Students of The Faculty of Engineering/ Mustansiriyah University

Abstract

Noise effects on the students include both auditory and non-auditory effects and cause ‎the lack of concentration and disability of learning‏ ‏and communication. The Faculty of ‎Engineering was chosen to conduct the questionnaire ‎because the students have both ‎theoretical and practical courses and they ‎spend one-third of their day in the ‎laboratories, so it is expected they exposure to noise more than other faculties’ students ‎A questionnaire was conducted to understand the effect of noise on student behavior ‎and whether they could classify the sounds that they heard as noise and determine the ‎noise sources (indoor, outdoor) and the noisiest places (classroom, laboratory, and ‎campus). 438 students participated in this questionnaire from all stages, and they ‎covered eight engineering departments in the Faculty of Engineering, Mustansiriyah ‎University. A statistical analysis of the questionnaire found that 39.5%, 46%, 32% and ‎‎49% of students suffered from noise in classrooms, laboratories, open spaces and closed ‎spaces (campus), respectively. In the actual situation, the effects that students ‎experience can be arranged in the following descending order: feeling discomfort, ‎hearing difficulty, raising the voice when speaking, lack of concentration, headache, ‎tinnitus and nausea. Using a sound and vibration meter with the analyzer, the noise ‎levels in dBA were measured in the noisiest places that the students mentioned. The ‎noise levels exceed the standard limitation that organizations and agencies such as the ‎WHO determined. ‎‏