An Investigation on the Effects of Occupational Noise Caused by Harmful Steel Process on Psychological and Cognitive Components of Employees in Isfahan Steel Industry

Introduction:

 Sound-induced psychological disorders include anxiety, stress, restlessness, sleep disturbance, and impaired mental function and information processing (stimulus identification, response selection, and response planning). Noise, like all pollutants, reduces the quality of life and poses significant health risks. The present study investigates a set of auditory and non-auditory effects of harmful noise on the psychological and cognitive components of Isfahan steel industry workers.

This study is a case-control study. In order to investigate the relationship between variables, disturbances caused by steel industry noise in 1000 employees of Isfahan steel industry in 1399 has been done. Sampling was random. In this study, workers completed the DASS, CPI, and personality types, and the 9612 standard was used to obtain objective noise. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software and Chi-square, independent t-test and Fisher test.

Based on the findings of the study, age factor on depression, marital status factor on anxiety and shift factor on staff stress showed a significant effect (p <0.05). There was no significant difference in anxiety and depression between case and control groups (p> 0.05). However, the mean of stress variable in the case group (14.40 ± 1.66) was significantly higher than the control group (12.89. 1.59) (p <0.001), which indicates the effect of sound intensity level on increasing workerschr(chr('39')39chr('39')) stress.

Based on the findings, it can be concluded that due to the positive and significant relationship between sound level and cognitive and mental components in the case group, it is necessary to take effective preventive measures to prevent psychological damage and maintain workerschr(chr('39')39chr('39')) health in this industry.