The Association between Noise Annoyance and General Health among Iranian Nurses at Tabriz Pediatric Hospital

Background: This study aimed to measure the sound level and assess the association between noise annoyance and general health in Iranian nurses at Tabriz Pediatric Hospital in neonatal, infectious, internal, NICU, and emergency care wards. Materials and Methods: The noise level was measured continuously according to ISO9612. The general health questionnaire-28, the noise annoyance scale based on ISO15666, and demographic characteristics were the questionnaires used in this study. The study was conducted at Tabriz specialty and subspecialty Hospital for children, which includes different care wards and admits many patients to the hospital. Results: The highest 24-hour mean noise level (dBA) was measured in the emergency (69.65±1.68) ward. The highest mean noise level during the morning, afternoon, and night shifts belonged to the emergency ward at 69.53±0.27, 69.30±0.39, and 69.85±0.43, respectively. According to the results, the association between the equivalent sound exposure level and noise annoyance was significant. The highest mean score of the total GHQ (39.78 ±12.01) was obtained in the emergency ward, and the lowest mean score (30.20 ±7.15) was obtained in the neonatal ward. The rassociation between the total scale of GHQ-28 and GHQ-28 subscales was significantly positive in all wards. Conclusion: The mean of the LAeq (dBA), in different wards of the studied hospital, was higher than the levels suggested by the US-EPA, the WHO, the AAP, and the national standard. Accordingly, since the mentioned wards play a vital role in treatment procedures, effective management–technical noise reduction measures are required to be adopted in these wards.