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Noise Annoyance Among College Students: A Qualitative Analysis of Complaint Emails in a Chinese University
Jialin Fan1,2, Yuyang Chen1, Andrew P Smith3
1School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518052, China.
Background:
Accelerated urbanization has exacerbated global noise issues, particularly on university campuses, affecting students' sleep and study efficiency. Previous studies mainly used interviews or surveys to investigate noise annoyance, which may lead to data distortion influenced by researchers.
Materials And Methods:
From January 3, 2020 to March 18, 2022, we collected 623 complaint emails containing noise-related keywords from the student complaint mailbox of a university in southern China. A total of 401 valid complaint emails ultimately included for thematic and quantitative analysis to better understand the effect of noise on college students' lives and health.
Results:
The results indicate that construction noise is the most common source of noise complaints, followed by residential noise and machinery/equipment noise. Students are most significantly disturbed by noise during the night and morning, which severely affects their sleep quality and study efficiency. The impact of noise on sleep was found to be significantly associated with its effect on mental health (P = 0.002) and study efficiency (P < 0.001).
Conclusion:
This study demonstrates that campus noise affects students' sleep quality, study efficiency, and mental health. It is recommended that universities strengthen campus noise control and ensure that on-campus construction activities do not interfere with students' study and rest.
