Effects of building construction noise on residents: A quasi-experiment

Noise pollution is an environmental problem in cities. Although recent fiel d research has focused on transport tation noises, the effects of exposure to building construction noise have not been studied. In a quasi-experiment , residents of a three-wing residence hall for female students located near a construction site served as subjects in three comparison groups. Informa tion about their personal characteristics and perceived effects of construc tion noise on studying and other behaviours were gathered in a questionnair e (n = 94) and an activity log (n = 14). In addition, sound level measureme nts and records of resident turnover and systematic observations of windows open or closed were analysed. As expected, the results of chi-square tests , one-way ANOVAs and MANOVAs show significant wing effects (p<0.05) on freq uency heard, distractability, and several perceived behavioural effects, su ch as being awakened, difficulty with relaxation and studying-related activ ities, and interference with conversation and television-watching. These ef fects were significantly more severe for residents closest to the construct ion site than those further away. Residents coped with noise by speaking lo uder, keeping windows closed, and leaving the room. (C) 2000 Academic Press .