The impact of noisy workplaces

Health

While hearing loss is a condition that develops with age, it is brought on and exacerbated by exposure to excessive noise. It can happen gradually, or it can be sudden, leading to temporary or irreversible hearing damage. It has a severe effect on someone’s work and personal life, yet it is one of the most common preventable occupational health conditions across the world.

Hearing loss isn’t the only condition caused by exposure to loud noises at work. Loud percussive bangs or exposure to a very loud noise for a short period of time can cause acoustic trauma.

Tinnitus, often described as a ringing in the ears, is an early sign of hearing damage and can cause disturbed sleep and affect a person’s speech.

Exposure to excessive noise can also have negative impacts on the cardiovascular system, resulting in an increase in blood pressure and the release of catecholamines (including adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine) in the blood. Catecholamines are associated with stress and may impact upon the body’s other regulating hormones such as insulin.

A foetus can be affected when a pregnant woman is exposed to loud noises.

Wellbeing

There is some debate about what level of noise can damage human hearing which has led governments to set different threshold levels across the world. But noise that is below legal actionable levels can still adversely affect a worker’s wellbeing in the workplace.

The increasing prevalence of open-plan offices and work areas means that irritating noises become more of a concern to employers.

Irritating noises can be from all kinds of sources, including air conditioning noise, telephone ringtones, traffic, nearby construction and other workers’ conversion.

These can be considered as environmental stressors and can not only affect worker’s health through stress but can lower productivity due to distraction. A recent article has shown that in some open-plan offices, noise ranges from 60 to 65 decibels. However, the German Association of Engineers recommend that a limit of 55 decibels is required for what is termed as ‘intellectual work’.

What can be done to reduce ‘irritating noise’? Solutions include:

• Sound masking and white noise generators – these are innovative solutions to reduce the distance noise can be heard by creating barely perceptible noise that counteracts unwanted noise such as loud conversations and traffic
• Noise friendly flooring – flooring such as carpet and vinyl have better sound absorption properties that wood or tiles
• Dedicated quiet spaces – these can either be bookable conference/meeting rooms or custom-made quiet areas in an open-plan office
• Noise-cancelling headphones – reasonably cheap (compared to other solutions) and can be easily linked in with Voice Over Internet Protocol telephony while providing up to 100% background noise cancellation
• Reorganising office layout – moving noisy equipment such as photocopiers into unoccupied neighbouring rooms or partitions
• Wall partitions and cubicles – these can be used to break up large open-plan areas and providing physical barriers to noise
• Acoustic panelling – these absorb sounds but can be expensive and not all wall panels are aesthetically pleasing.

So, there are many solutions for mitigating ‘irritating noise’ in the workplace. As with many controls, it is important to choose the most appropriate for your organisation and its operational circumstances. Obviously cost and effectiveness play a major part in this choice.