Noise Pollution a Menace to Learning in Typical Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria

Knowingly and unknowingly, noise pollution hurts the quality of our everyday life. The lecture hall is an auditory-verbal environment that requires pleasant acoustics; however, the main problem of it is noise pollution. Thus, this study aims at assessing students’ perceptions of the effect of noise pollution in lecture halls in a typical Nigeria institution, taking the lectures halls in the School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology (SAAT), School of Environmental Sciences (SOES), the School of Health Teaching (SOHT) all in the Federal University of Technology Owerri FUTO. The study was pursued using a Quantitative and Qualitative approach that entailed the use of structured Questionnaires and observation. A total number of 150 questionnaires were distributed to the students because they are the major users of lecture halls, and a total of 134 questionnaires were filled and returned giving a percentage response of 89.3%. Data collected were analyzed using computer-based software statistical package for Social Science (SPSS) version 19.0 and descriptive tools such as frequencies, percentage values and Relative Important Index (RII). The result of the analysis revealed among others that the major causes of noise in lecture halls are generators, automobiles, and Echo of noise from adjacent buildings. Similarly, the study also revealed that noise exposure affects listening ability, concentration of students, and reading ability and its peak period is usually in the afternoon hours (1.00-3.00 pm). Also, one of the effects of noise is that it makes students lose concentration when receiving lectures since the bridge between students and lecturers is limited as a result of interference in communication between students and lecturers. Consequently, It is recommended that noise detectors should be located in lecture halls and school environments to know the noise level in lecture halls and perhaps, operate on the noise level recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Also, the use of noise-insulating materials during construction and maintenance, and the planting of natural shield trees within the study area to prevent noise from intruding into the lecture halls should be adopted.  Educating students on the effect of noise pollution the and location of the generator set sets in lecture halls far away from the road will reduce noise pollution.