144 Non-auditory effects of noise - the occupational hygiene approach in an Italian project

Abstract There is a conceptual evolution in assessing and planning the acoustic quality of work environments and activities. New approaches to noise assessment in workplaces, in terms of acoustic damage, noise disturbance, acoustic discomfort, are emerging. The physiological and psycho-behavioural non-auditory effects produced by exposure to noise derived by specific sources and by poor acoustic quality of workplaces is often not considered in national legislations and regulations as well as in international standards. Some projects have considered the evidences of correlation between the room acoustic quality variables, as components of the global comfort design of workplaces and the risk of non-auditory effects on workers’ health. The final results and the possible further development of a recently completed Italian inter-universities project on non-auditory effects of noise exposure in workplaces, with special attention to schools, are shown. Among them, a collection of guidelines referred to experiences and methods aimed at understanding the correlation between acoustic quality of and various physiological and psychological pathologies, included vocal effort, perceptive-cognitive performance and more, showing that there is a new consideration, also in terms of compensation for both auditory and non-auditory (physiological, psycho-behavioural) effects of exposure to noise and a new consideration of the acoustic quality of spaces for speech intelligibility, correct sizing of the safety and alarm signals, reduction of background noise and unnecessary sounds.