CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Noise is any undesired sound, either one that is intrinsically objectionable or one that interferes with other sounds that are being listened to (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012). The extent to which noise is annoying depends on many factors such as the pitch irregularities, duration, rhythm and unexpectedness or whether the noise has any meaning for the particular observer (Ebeniro and Abumere, 1999). Noise become an unjustifiable interferences and imposition upon human health, comfort and quality of human life (Gorai and Pal, 2006).Society has attempted to regulate noise since the early days of the Romans, who by decree prohibited the movement of chariots in the streets at night (Goines and Hagler, 2007). But it was not until the late 1960s that people started to protest against a specific highway or airport and claimed that citizens must be protected from the adverse impact of noise pollution followed by passage of nuisance lawsuits in different parts of the world (Yuhazri et al., 2010). Things changed rapidly in the United States as the Federal Government officially recognized noise as a pollutant and began to support noise research and regulation. Consequently, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969 and the Noise Pollution and Abatement Act (more commonly called the Noise Control Act (NCA)) of 1972 came into existence (Firdaus and Ahmad, 2010). Afterward, various European countries such as The Netherlands (1979), France (1985), Spain (1993) and Denmark (1994), etc. formulated national laws governing noise.Noise caused by traffic is the nuisance that is most often cited by roadside residents. School administrations and students living in the proximity of roadways will increasingly perceive noise problems (Avsar and Gonullu, 2001). The effect of environmental noise on growing2children has become one of the most important problems, because the personality, mentality and physique of children are being formed particularly at this early age. According to the some of the studies, students’ performance and behaviours can be changed both in high noisy ambience and quiet ambience (Sargent et al., 1980). The higher outdoor noise causes the higher indoor noise in classrooms. Disturbance from the outdoor noise is increased in hot seasons in the classrooms, especially when the windowpanes are open (Avasr and Gonullu, 2005).Environmental challenges vary considerably among schools around the world, across countries and within communities (World Health Organization, 2004).
Nowadays, children experience a key part of their childhood in their school and it forms one of their principal social activities and setting (Alsubaie, 2014). The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion stated that “health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life; where they learn, work, play and live” (WHO, 1987). World Health Organization defines a health-promoting school as “one that constantly strengthens its capacity as healthy setting for living, learning and working” (WHO, 2014). The American Academy of Pediatrics defines a “healthful school environment” as “one that protects students and staff against immediate injury or disease and promotes activities and attitudes against known risk factors that might lead to future disease or disability” (America Academy of Pediatrics, 1993). The school environment encompasses the social, physical and biological factors. Learning in classrooms is mainly facilitated through verbal and auditory communication between teachers and students (Flexer and Long, 2003).Zannin et al. (2012) said the long and arduous process of individual and collective education takes place primarily in classrooms. It is here that contact is established between teachers3and students and between individual students and their peers. It is here that knowledge is transmitted in its most ancient form, i.e., through oral communication. The quality of this communication, and ultimately, of classroom education itself, is closely linked to the acoustic quality of the classroom. This acoustic quality can be characterized based on the reverberation time, speech transmission index, sound insulation, and the noise levels inside and outside the classroom (Zannin and Zwirtes, 2009). High noise levels in the classroom impair oral communication, causing students to become tired sooner more often, and this premature fatigue tends to have a negative effect on their cognitive skills (Hagen et al., 2002).School is also an important microenvironment just like home and work place. The school is important for the cognitive, creative, and social development of children. Schools are therefore expected to ensure the best possible conditions for child’s physical and intellectual development, including control of excess environmental noise (Ana et al., 2009).Environmental pollution becomes more severe and widespread due to population growth, urbanization and industrialization in the cities (Ralte and Lalramnghinglova, 2013). There are many factors which cause the environment to be polluted and one of those undesired and unpleasant factor is ‘noise’ which affects the quality of life (Haq et al., 2014). Noise pollution is one of the major problems for developing countries.
There is a need to control the noise exposure levels in sensitive areas as hospitals, schools, and kindergartens (Mitra, 2008; Oyedepo and Abdullahi, 2009; Noori and Zand, 2013; Amin et al., 2014; Marriscal-Rammires et al., 2014; Mukhola, 2014).Noise as pollution is said to occur when the noise level is above the maximum permissible level for a given environment (WHO, 1980; FEPA, 1991). The most important measurement of noise is its loudness. This loudness depends on the physical sound pressure that is4measured on the sensitivity of the human ear which in turn depends on the frequency of the sound (Levitt, 2001). Noise pollution has become an important environmental problem in that this problem has negative impacts on public health both physically and psychologically (Aparicio-Ramon et al., 1993; Yoshida et al., 1997; Buchta and Vos, 1998; Kura et al., 1999; Ali and Tamura, 2003; Stansfeld and Matheson, 2003).There have been many attempts to reduce noise pollution in many countries (Arana and Garcia, 1998; Onuu, 2000; Zannin et al., 2002; Li et al., 2002; Morillas et al., 2002; Kumbur et al., 2003; Yilmaz and Ozer, 2005; Ozyonar and Peker, 2008; Pathak et al., 2008; Allen et al., 2009). Due to urbanization and industrialization, noise pollution has gained attention and as an environmental hazard rated third to air and water pollutions (Singh and Davar, 2004). Apart from the psychosocial effects of community noise, there is a growing concern about the impact of noise on public health, particularly regarding cardiovascular outcomes (Passchier-Vermeer and Passchier, 2000).Recently, noise pollution has been of increasing concern worldwide, particularly in the urban centres (Banerjee et al., 2008; Ana et al., 2009; Goswami et al., 2011; Olayinka, 2013; Jamir et al., 2014). Many studies addressing the problem of noise pollution in educational institutes throughout the world have been conducted (Ana et al., 2009; Golmohammadi et al., 2010; Woolner and Hall, 2010; Debnath et al., 2012; Alsubaie, 2014). The auditory system of the teachers and students continuously analysing acoustic information, which is filtered and interpreted by different cortical and sub-cortical brain structures (WHO, 2009). Arousal of the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system is associated with repeated temporal changes in biological responses. In the long run, chronic noise stress may affect the5homeostasis of the organism due to dysregulation, incomplete adaptation and/or the physiological costs of the adaptation (Spreng, 2000).Ikenberry (1974) has analysed some effects of noise pollution to school students and found that the students find it difficult to hear the teacher, lectures, classroom discussions, and other activities. Klatte et al. (2013) in their research work showed that students can perform better under quiet environments than under noisy ones. Debnath et al. (2012) stated that noise pollution produces multi-problems to the teaching-learning process and negatively affects the performance of both teachers and students.Significant increase in the population of urban centres has been witnessed in Nigeria within the last decade. This increase has influenced the lifestyle of the citizenry contributing to the increase in noise pollution (Abel, 2015). Urbanization and industrialization have contributed greatly to noise pollution in recent time without adequate consideration of its effects in the future to come.1.1 Statement of Research ProblemThe noise problems of the modern industrial societies seem incomparable to the past given the larger sources of noise now present outdoors and indoors. Traffic noise is one of the main sources of environmental noise exposure in urban communities (WHO, 2001). Noise pollution has been recognized as one of the major threats confronting the world today. The WHO in 2005 revealed that noise is a dangerous agent which affects human health and the environment (Zanin et al., 2006). Noise pollution has become problematic yet an unnoticed form of pollution in most developing countries (Essandoh et al., 2011). In the recent years, transportation has created excessive noise pollution which is displeasing the activity or balance of human and animal life. Noise can damage physiological and psychological health
ASSESSMENT OF NOISE LEVEL AND ITS EFFECTS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ZARIA METROPOLIS, NIGERIA
