Extra-Auditory Effects from Noise Exposure in Italian Schools

School teachers and students are subject to high noise levels which have an impact on perceptual-cognitive and neurobehavioral aspects among the auditory and extra-auditory effects that exposure to noise can determine on users. The project BRIC - ID14, financed by INAIL, the Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work, aims at producing a guideline for the evaluation and control of extra-auditory effects on teachers and students in primary and secondary schools. Therefore, following an analysis of the state of the art, a protocol was defined for the identification of parameters to be investigated for the acoustic characterization of school spaces and the assessment of the users. A sample of three kindergartens, three primary schools and three secondary schools placed in Rome, Florence and Perugia was considered for carrying out acoustic measurements in unoccupied and occupied school environments, soundscape analyses and for collecting questionnaires filled by teachers and students. The first outcomes of the project report high noise levels for exposed teachers and students. The results, including correlations of objective and subjective investigations, will be used to define strategies and solutions for noise control and mitigation in the investigated schools and in general to produce a collection of guidelines.