The Relationship of Noise Pollution to the Mental Health of Among University Students

Abstract

The present study deals with the relationship of noise pollution to the mental health of university students, through the researcher field study with the use of descriptive Correlative approach to investigate this relationship. Noise is one of the elements of environmental pollution that people often expose to in their environment. The problem of noise has been exacerbated now because of cultural and technological progress in crowded cities. As a result, the researchers studied noise as an environmental stimulus that affects the mental health of the human being.The researchers, through their current research try to study a very serious problem, which is the problem of noise pollution on the health side of university students as a hindrance to the educational process that occurs inside the lecture hall and as a threat to the continuity of human life. The sample of the current study consisted of (200) students from the basic education faculty of the University of Babylon, and the researchers presented the sample of the research tool, which intended to identify the sources of noise pollution in the colleges, in addition to the period of time to which they are subjected to noise pollution for five days. The researchers have developed a degree (85) decibels is the degree allowed to expose to noise, depending on what the International Convention on Exposure to Noise. The results showed the following: 1) there was a group of sources of noise pollution, which affect together and continuously on the mental health of university students. 2) There is an effect of gender on the level of noise pollution among university students; this effect showed a greater risk to females than males that leads to a significant reduction in the physical and psychological health of students. 3) The research sample suffers from the low level of their mental health compared to the average satisfactory. 4) Gender did not show an effect on the level of students’ mental health. 5) There is an inverse correlation between the level of exposure to noise pollution and mental health of university students. A set of appropriate recommendations and Suggestions presented as follow:

1. Environmental protection officials should take into account the preservation of the health of students in the Universities from the effects of various pollution, especially noise, which poses a complete threat to public health.
2. University students in all Iraqi universities should pay attention to their physical and psychological health by taking all necessary precautions to protect themselves from the dangers of environmental pollution.
3. Spreading health and cultural awareness through the media and communication represented by television, radio, newspapers and magazines as well as guiding wall leaflets to educate people about what constitutes environmental pollution, especially noise, a threat to their health and psychological safety.

Suggestions:

1 -Designing an educational program to develop environmental awareness of the impact of various environmental pollution among university students.

2 - Studying the impact of waste pollution on the mental health of university students.

3 - Studying the sources of environmental pollution in Iraqi universities