Top

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

Published in:

01-11-2014 | Original Article

A study of classroom acoustics and school teachers’ noise exposure, voice load and speaking time during teaching, and the effects on vocal and mental fatigue development

Authors: Jesper Kristiansen, Søren Peter Lund, Roger Persson, Hitomi Shibuya, Per Møberg Nielsen, Matthias Scholz

Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Issue 8/2014

Abstract

Objectives

The study investigated the noise exposure in a group of Danish school teachers. The aims were to investigate if noise posed a risk of impairment of hearing and to study the association between classroom acoustical conditions, noise exposure, vocal symptoms, and cognitive fatigue.

Methods

Background noise levels, vocal load and speaking time were measured on 35 teachers during actual classroom teaching. The classrooms were characterized acoustically by measurements of reverberation time. Before and after the workday, the teachers answered a questionnaire on fatigue symptoms and carried out two cognitive test tasks sensitive to mental fatigue.

Results

The average noise level during the lessons was 72 dB(A), but during indoor sports activities the average noise level increased 6.6 dB(A). Room reverberation time (range 0.39–0.83 s) had no significant effect on the noise level. The teachers were talking with a raised voice in 61 % of the time, and the vocal load increased 0.65 dB(A) per dB(A) increase in the average lesson noise level. An increase in voice symptoms during the workday correlated significantly with individual average noise exposure, and a decrease in performance in the two-back test correlated significantly with individual average vocal load.

Conclusions

Noise exposure in general classrooms posed no risk of noise-induced hearing impairment in school teachers. However, the results provide evidence for an association between noise exposure and vocal load and development of vocal symptoms and cognitive fatigue after work.

Noise is generally defined as unwanted sound. In this study, all sounds from the teacher’s surroundings are defined as noise, although it is clear that not all activity sounds are noise from the teacher’s perspective.

Åhlander VL, Rydell R, Löfqvist A (2011) Speaker’s comfort in teaching environments: voice problems in Swedish teaching staff. J Voice 25(4):430–440CrossRef

Bailey A, Channon S, Beaumont JG (2007) The relationship between subjective fatigue and cognitive fatigue in advanced multiple sclerosis. Multiple Scler 13(1):73–80CrossRef

Banbury SP, Macken WJ, Tremblay S, Jones DM (2001) Auditory distraction and short-term memory: phenomena and practical implications. Hum Fact 43(1):12–29CrossRef

Clausen T, Christensen KB, Lund T, Kristiansen J (2009) Self-reported noise exposure as a risk factor for long-term sickness absence. Noise Health 11(43):93–97CrossRef

Clausen T, Kristiansen J, Hansen JV, Pejtersen JH, Burr H (2013) Exposure to disturbing noise and risk of long-term sickness absence among office workers. A prospective analysis of register-based outcomes. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 86(7):729–734

de Medeiros AM, Assuncao AA, Barreto SM (2012) Absenteeism due to voice disorders in female teachers: a public health problem. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 85:853–864CrossRef

Fritzell B (1996) Voice disorders and occupations. Logoped Phoniatr Vocol 21:7–12CrossRef

Hodgson M, Nosal EM (2002) Effect of noise and occupancy on optimal reverberation times for speech intelligibility in classrooms. J Acoust Soc Am 111(2):931–939CrossRef

Hughes RW, Jones DM (2003) Indispensable benefits and unavoidable costs of unattended sound for cognitive functioning. Noise Health 6(21):63–76

International Organization for Standardization (1990) Acoustics—determination of occupational noise exposure and estimation of noise-induced hearing impairment (ISO 1999). International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva

Kjellberg A, Iwanowski S (1989) Stress/Energi-formuläret: Utveckling av en metod för skattning av sinnesstämning i arbetet. Stockholm, National Institute of Occupational Health, 26, 1–21

Kjellberg A, Wadman C (2002) Subjektiv stress och dess samband med psykosociala förhållanden och besvär-En prövning av Stress-Energi-modellen. In: Marklund S (ed) Arbete och Hälsa. Stockholm, Arbetslivsinstitutet, 12, 1–32

Kjellberg A, Ljung R, Hallman D (2008) Recall of words heard in noise. Appl Cogn Psychol 22(8):1088–1098CrossRef

Kristiansen J (2010) Is noise exposure in non-industrial work environments associated with increased sickness absence? Noise Vib Worldw 41(5):9–16CrossRef

Kristiansen J, Mathiesen L, Nielsen PK, Hansen ÅM, Shibuya H, Petersen HM et al (2008) Stress reactions to cognitively demanding tasks and open-plan office noise. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 82(5):631–641CrossRef

Kristiansen J, Lund SP, Nielsen PM, Persson R, Shibuya H (2011) Determinants of noise annoyance in teachers from schools with different reverberation times. J Environ Psychol 31:383–392CrossRef

Kristiansen J, Persson R, Lund SP, Shibuya H, Nielsen PM (2013) Effects of classroom acoustics and self-reported noise exposure on teachers’ well-being. Environ Behav 45(2):283–300CrossRef

Lindstrom F, Waye KP, Södersten M, McAllister A, Ternström S (2011) Observations of the relationship between noise exposure and preschool teacher voice usage in day-care center environments. J Voice 25(2):166–172CrossRef

Ljung R, Sörqvist P, Kjellberg A, Green A (2009) Poor listening conditions impair memory for intelligible lectures: implications for acoustic classroom standards. Build Acoust 16(34):257–265CrossRef

Masuda T, Ikeda Y, Manako H, Komiyama S (1993) Analysis of vocal abuse: fluctuations in phonation time and intensity in 4 groups of speakers. Acta Otolaryngol 113:547–552CrossRef

Miyake A, Friedman NP, Emerson MJ, Witzki AH, Howerter A (2000) The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “frontal lobe” tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cogn Psychol 41(49):100

Nijs L, Saher K, den Ouden D (2008) Effects of room absorption on human vocal output in multitalker situations. J Acoust Soc Am 123(2):803–813CrossRef

Pelegrin-Garcia D, Lyberg-Åhlander V, Rydell R, Brunskog J, Löfqvist A (2010) Influence of classroom acoustics on the voice levels of the teacher with and without voice problems: a field study. Proc Meet Acoust 11:1–9

Persson R, Garde AH, Hansen ÅM, Ohlsson K, Ørbæk P (2003) The influence of production systems on self-reported arousal, sleepiness, physical exertion and fatigue—consequences of increasing mechanization. Stress Health 19:163–171CrossRef

Persson R, Österberg K, Garde AH, Hansen ÅM, Ørbæk P, Karlson B (2010) Seasonal variation in self-reported arousal and subjective health complaints. Psychol Health Med 15(4):434–444CrossRef

Picard M, Bradley JS (2001) Revisiting speech interference in classrooms. Audiology 40(5):221–244CrossRef

Posner J, Russell JA, Peterson BS (2005) The circumplex model of affect: an integrative approach to affective neuroscience, cognitive development, and psychopathology. Dev Psychopathol 17(3):715–734CrossRef

Russell JA (1980) A circumplex model of affect. J Pers Soc Psychol 39(6):1161–1178CrossRef

Russell A, Oates J, Greenwood KM (1998) Prevalence of voice problems in teachers. J Voice 12(4):467–479CrossRef

Sala E, Airo E, Olkinuora P, Simberg S, Ström U, Laine A et al (2002) Vocal loading among day care center teachers. Logoped Phoniatr Vocol 27:21–28CrossRef

Sandrock S, Schütte M, Griefahn B (2009) Impairing effects of noise in high and low noise sensitive persons working on different mental tasks. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 82:779–785CrossRef

Sato H, Bradley JS (2004) Evaluation of acoustical conditions for speech communication in active elementary school classrooms. Proceedings of the 18th international congress on acoustics, II:1187–1190

Shield BM, Dockrell JE (2003) The effects of noise on children at school: a review. Build Acoust 10(2):97–106CrossRef

Shield B, Dockrell JE (2004) External and internal noise surveys of London primary schools. J Acoust Soc Am 115(2):730–738CrossRef

Smith E, Lemke J, Taylor M, Kirchner HL, Hoffman H (1998) Frequency of voice problems among teachers and other occupations. J Voice 12(4):480–488CrossRef

Södersten M, Granqvist S, Hammarberg B, Szabo A (2002) Vocal behavior and vocal loading factors for preschool teachers at work studied with binaural DAT recordings. J Voice 16(3):356–371CrossRef

Titze IR, Hunter EJ, Svec JG (2007) Voicing and silence periods in daily and weekly vocalizations of teachers. J Acoust Soc Am 121(1):469–478CrossRef

van der Linden D, Frese M, Meijman TF (2003) Mental fatigue and the control of cognitive processes: effects on perseveration and planning. Acta Psychol 113:45–65CrossRef

van der Linden D, Keijsers GPJ, Eling P, van Schaijk R (2005) Work stress and attentional difficulties: an initial study on burnout and cognitive failures. Work Stress 19(1):23–36CrossRef

Wålinder R, Gunnarsson K, Runeson R, Smedje G (2007) Physiological and psychological stress reactions in relation to classroom noise. Scand J Work Environ Health 33:260–266CrossRef

Whitlock J, Dodd G (2006) Classroom acoustics—controlling the cafe effect… is the Lombard effect the key? In: Proceedings of ACOUSTICS, Christchurch, New Zealand, 20–22 Nov 2006, pp 423–426

Title: A study of classroom acoustics and school teachers’ noise exposure, voice load and speaking time during teaching, and the effects on vocal and mental fatigue development
Authors: Jesper Kristiansen
Søren Peter Lund
Roger Persson
Hitomi Shibuya
Per Møberg Nielsen
Matthias Scholz
Publication date: 01-11-2014
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Issue 8/2014
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-014-0927-8

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

A study of classroom acoustics and school teachers’ noise exposure, voice load and speaking time during teaching, and the effects on vocal and mental fatigue development

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 8/2014

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exposure in residents living near a cement factory with kilns

Relationships of organizational social capital with the presence of “gossip and slander,” “quarrels and conflicts,” sick leave, and poor work ability in nursing homes

Evaluation of structured patient education in occupational skin diseases: a systematic assessment of the disease-specific knowledge

Physically demanding work and preterm delivery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Sleepiness in professional truck drivers measured with an objective alertness test during routine traffic controls

Chronic respiratory conditions in a cohort of metropolitan fire-fighters: associations with occupational exposure and quality of life