Examining the Relationship between the Architecture of Workplaces and the Emergence of Health Problems Caused by Noise: Unhealthy Buildings

Introduction: The workplace is one of the most significant environments where people spend most of their time. Lack of acoustic comfort is one of the most important factors that threatens the health and well-being of employees in these workplaces every day. The purpose of this study, while identifying the symptoms caused by noise problems among employees, is to identify the main parameters and to investigate the role of architecture in the expansion of unhealthy workplaces. Method: The current study was conducted among the employees of three administrative buildings in Urmia city (Road and Urban Development, Construction Engineering Organization and Airport) and a sample size of 226 out of 309 employees was surveyed based on Morgan's table. The required data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and Friedman test by SPSS-25 software. Results: The average ranks of the symptoms showed that fatigue (4.62), hearing problems (6.05), headache (6.30), muscle pains (7.01), high stress (8.41), quick anger (8.55) and distraction and poor concentration (8.58), were among the most important symptoms caused by noise among employees. Also, disturbances caused by other people's conversations (59.22%) and overcrowding and lack of individual speech privacy (41.99%) were among the most important parameters, having frequent complaints about noise. Conclusion: The results of the investigation indicated that the inefficient environment design and lack of spaces flexibility, inappropriate placement and lack of acoustic insulation of surfaces inside noisy uses, high environment density and lack of sufficient space for employees, lack of installation systems maintenance, were among the most important reasons for frequent complaints about noise.