Noise annoyance responses of students and teachers in different schools in Muscat City, Oman

Noise, or unwanted sound, is a problem in schools today because it causes annoyance and impairs communication and learning. Moreover, Annoyance is a central concept in the study of subjective reactions to unwanted sounds. In Muscat City, the constructions of Schools in new areas are often subjected to higher outdoor noise levels. Hence intelligibility of lessons by students is decreased. In the present survey study, the purpose was to examine noise annoyance responses in the school environment from students' as well as teachers' perspectives. There were no previous researches have focused on the effect of noise in schools in Muscat city. The investigation was carried out to investigate the effects of environmental noise on the academic attainments and cognitive performance of school in Muscat city for both students and teachers. The investigation, based on data collected from a survey study of students aged 10-18 years from three different schools, supported the idea that the individual's sensitivity and inability to adapt to noise led to a higher degree of annoyance. Since there are no reported studies that have compared teachers and schoolchildren's reactions to noise in Muscat city, Oman, the aim in the present study was to examine the differences and similarities of students and teachers' responses that was included the comparison of females and males responses to the noise. The study also included the measurement of the noise levels in different location in one school. The results of this study indicate that chronic exposure to high noise levels affects school school's children and the teachers as well.