Providing Acoustic Comfort in the Classroom Using Double-Glazed Windows and its Effect on Students Stress

Abstract

BackgroundStudents spend a considerable amount of time at school; thus, noise pollution can have negative physical and emotional effects on them. This study aimed to determine the association between reduced noise by changing single-glazed to double-glazed windows and stress level changes among students.MethodsWe included 384 male high school students in this study to specify the effect of noise reduction (using double-glazed windows) on classroom stress in Shiraz, 2018-2019 academic years. The participants were randomly selected from schools exposed to unauthorized noise; they were divided into control (N=192) and intervention groups (N=192). Using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), we assessed stress perception in a semi-experimental pretest and posttest design. Moreover, UT-353 digital sound level meter was used to measure noise pollution.ResultsThe mean pretest and post-test scores for the intervention group were 29.30+6.878 and 24.88+8.711, respectively. The acoustic comfort induced by double-glazed windows could significantly decrease the level of stress (P<0.001). The researchers used mean statistics and standard deviation for descriptive data analysis and Independent t-test for inferential analysis. The results showed a significant difference between the intervention and control groups.ConclusionsReplacing single-glazed windows with double-glazed ones improved the acoustic condition of the classroom, thereby reducing the stress of male high school students.