Chakraborty Arup, Lahiri Arista, Dasgupta Urmila, Saha Asim, Bhattacharya Salil K
Department of Community Medicine, Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Community Medicine, Dr. B. C. Roy Multi-Speciality Medical Research Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India.
Indian J Occup Environ Med. 2022 Oct-Dec;26(4):240-244. doi: 10.4103/ijoem.ijoem_51_22. Epub 2022 Dec 24.
Adverse short-term and long-term health effects following a high level of noise have been established. The current study aims to find the relationship of these effects with an environment-specific level of noise exposure.
A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 50 auto-rickshaw drivers and 51 age-matched service-sector employees. The peak average noise exposure in decibels (dB) was measured. The duration of exposure and response regarding perceptions following noise exposure was assessed through a pre-designed pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire.
The mean age of the participants was 42.24 (±13.72) years. Among the auto-rickshaw drivers, 82% perceived stress, 64% had hearing difficulty, and 74% complained of lack of sleep following exposure to a high level of noise. However, the perceptions were comparable among the comparison group and the differences were not statistically significant. The mean average peak level of noise exposure among drivers and their comparison group was 91.64 (±7.37) dB and 91.98 (± 8.06) dB, respectively, but were not different statistically. Around 52.94% of the service-sector respondents and 48% of the drivers were exposed to the lower cumulative noise levels. Those having a higher level of cumulative noise exposure, had a higher odds of feeling irritated (Odds ratio [OR]: 2.182, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.845-5.636), feeling stressed (OR: 5.805, 95% CI: 1.552-21.708), having palpitation (OR: 3.694, 95% CI: 1.264-10.793), and lack of sleep (OR: 3.020, 95% CI: 1.006-9.066).
Stress and lack of sleep were the most important perceived effects of noise exposure. The exposures to the higher cumulative noise level in specified groups were more important in relation to quantifying perceived symptoms than the average peak noise level.
高强度噪声对健康的短期和长期不良影响已得到证实。本研究旨在找出这些影响与特定环境噪声暴露水平之间的关系。
对50名人力三轮车司机和51名年龄匹配的服务业员工进行了一项比较性横断面研究。测量了以分贝（dB）为单位的平均峰值噪声暴露。通过预先设计并经过预测试的半结构化问卷评估暴露持续时间以及噪声暴露后关于感知的反应。
参与者的平均年龄为42.24（±13.72）岁。在人力三轮车司机中，82%的人感到有压力，64%的人有听力困难，74%的人抱怨在暴露于高强度噪声后睡眠不足。然而，对照组中的感知情况与之相当，差异无统计学意义。司机组及其对照组的平均平均峰值噪声暴露水平分别为91.64（±7.37）dB和91.98（±8.06）dB，但在统计学上无差异。约52.94%的服务业受访者和48%的司机暴露于较低的累积噪声水平。累积噪声暴露水平较高的人感到烦躁的几率更高（优势比[OR]：2.182，95%置信区间[CI]：0.845 - 5.636）、感到有压力（OR：5.805，95%CI：1.552 - 21.708）、有心悸（OR：3.694，95%CI：1.264 - 10.793）以及睡眠不足（OR：3.020，95%CI：1.006 - 9.066）。
压力和睡眠不足是噪声暴露最主要的感知影响。与平均峰值噪声水平相比，特定群体中较高的累积噪声暴露水平在量化感知症状方面更为重要。
