Attitudes of Population towards Traffic Noise in Saudi Arabia, Dammam: A Case Study | ||||
| Journal of High Institute of Public Health | ||||
| Article 12, Volume 38, Issue 4, October 2008, Page 905-923 PDF (279.56 K) | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jhiph.2008.20986 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
| AbdulAziz Al-Ghonamy* 1; Mahmoud El-Sharkawy2 | ||||
| 1College of Engineering, Hail University, KSA | ||||
| 2Department of Environmental Health, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Faisal University, KSA | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Noise pollution can result from number of sources, including traffic, construction and industrial activities. Motorboats, snowmobiles; and loud music are also considered sources of noise pollution. Traffic noise affects people in different manners such as rest annoying disorders, stress and learning troubles, in addition to cardio-vascular diseases. The present study is mainly aimed to investigate the attitude of Saudi population towards the environmental noise pollution. Population of Dammam city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia was selected as a case study due to its nature of industrial, commercial, educational and recreational human activities. The survey method chosen for this study was a direct interview using a pre-designed questionnaire. A hundred percent of respondents reported that traffic activity was the most annoying source of environmental noise and more than 80% of respondents were generally complain from the traffic noise with a degree of annoyance ranged from moderate to sever. Sleeping and performance of jobs were the most affected daily activities with traffic noise. The highest percent of respondents reported that the day period (from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm) is the maximum period of exposure to the traffic noise. Most of respondents were closing their doors and windows to avoid annoyance of the outdoor noise, while others were going away to calm areas, blame the noise-causing persons or speaking loudly to overcome this problem. There is a weak significant statistical correlation between age of respondent and sleep disturbance due to exposure to the traffic noise. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Noise Pollution; Traffic Activity; Attitudinal Survey; Respondents; Annoyance; Sleeping Disturbance | ||||
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