Modeling the Association between Noise Exposure, Noise Annoyance, Aggression, and Cognitive Failures using the Bayesian Network Method

Noise pollution from various internal and external sources affects people's behaviors and job performance. The current study investigated the effects of noise pollution on annoyance, aggression, and cognitive failures.

This descriptive study was conducted in 2020-2021 recruiting 400 employees of Tejarat Bank in Tehran. First, questionnaires of cognitive failures, noise annoyance, sensitivity, aggression, and demographic information were completed by the study staff. Next, association between the variables were determined. Finally, using Bayesian models, the association between variables were modeled and important factors were identified using sensitivity analysis.

Based on the results, the mean scores of noise exposure, annoyance, sensitivity, aggression and cognitive failures were 62.86 ± 6.66, 57.74 ± 23.47, 68.26 ± 17.94, 71.19 ±12.68, and 46.83 ± 12.00, respectively. Of all the variables, only annoyance and noise sensitivity had significant effect on aggression. The factors of accuracy, precision, and recall of the Bayesian model were 0.8, 0.89, and 0.96, respectively, which indicates the appropriate diagnostic performance of the model.

Based on our findings, it can be concluded that noise annoyance increases the likelihood of cognitive failures, so that the highest probability of cognitive failures occurs when people are annoyed. In addition, because people with higher noise exposure and higher education experience more annoyance, it can be concluded that the variables of education and noise exposure cause cognitive failures through annoyance.