correlation between noise exposure and mental health components among iranian steel workers, 2021

Background: noise is an important occupational safety and health issue in many workplaces. noise annoyance is a strong measurable mental response. it is a reaction that a person expresses to the noise exposure. thus, this study investigates the correlation between noise exposure and its annoyance in terms of mental health components. materials and methods: this was a correlational descriptive study conducted on 100 workers. respondents were recruited by a simple random sampling method. the equivalent sound level (leqa) was determined using dosimetry. the numerical scale of iso/ts 15666:2003 was used to measure noise annoyance. mental health components were determined using the scl-90 mental health questionnaire. data analysis was performed in spss software (version 22) using mann-whitney, kruskal–wallis, and correlation tests. results: the median of mental health and noise annoyance were 38 and 6.5, respectively. a positive correlation was observed between equivalent sound level (leqa) and noise annoyance score (p<0.001, r=0.92). a significant correlation was found between mental health components (depression, anxiety, self-morbidity, obsession and compulsion, aggression, morbid fear, paranoid thoughts, psychosis, and sensitivity in interpersonal relationships) and equivalent sound level (p<0.001). also, a significant correlation was observed between noise annoyance score and mental health components (p<0.001). conclusion: we concluded thatin order to enhance the mental health of employees and increment efficiency and performance, it is recommended that appropriate control methods should be applied.