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The effects of cleanroom noise intensity and frequency on physiological measures and subjective responses
Background:
Workplace noise exposure gains growing attention in high tech industry.
Objective:
This study investigated the noise effect on physiological and subjective responses in semiconductor manufacturing clean room environment.
Methods:
Twenty subjects including 10 males and 10 females completed all phases of the experiment. Each subject was asked to participate in four treatment combinations of two noise intensities [65 dB(A) and 80 dB(A)] × two frequency levels [high and low]. For each treatment condition, the subject was exposed to the specified noise condition in a sound proof cabin for one hour. The physiological measures included blood pressure and heart rate. The subjective measures included noise sensitivity, fatigue and annoyance.
Results:
The ANOVA results indicate that long-time noise exposure caused significant increase in blood pressure (p< 0.001). Furthermore, the noise intensity by time interaction effect was found to be significant on annoyance and fatigue.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that prolonged exposure to noise intensity at 80 dB(A) would result in a significant increase in physiological cost and subjective discomfort feeling. Thus, some countermeasures should be taken to reduce noise exposure and to promote health, and quality of working life.
