Last year CIOP (Central Institute for Labour Protection - National Research Institute) investigated noise problem in public primary schools in Warsaw.
The main focus of this survey, initiated by Ministry of National Education, was the noise impact on school staff’s health and well-being. Important part of this research was a survey among teachers checking their awareness of noise threat. Close to 200 teachers returned filled questionnaires. Have a look at interesting results:

Do you experience discomfort during work caused by …… . (% of answers “yes”):
- noise 88,2%
- lack of space 32,1%
- bad ventilation 27,3%
- bad lighting 13,9%
- dustiness 3,2%

„Commercials cannot be louder than foregoing programs and movies and its sound cannot be frightening” – it is main statement of new television and radio advertisement regulation in Poland.
This regulation was introduced by last revision committed by KRRiTV (national TV & radio market regulator) and it was done under viewers’ pressure. Their claims were officially supported by Polish ombudsman: “It seems, that sudden, irritating sound level jump caused by commercial breaks, establish viewers’ privacy violation. Mental balance (peace), disordered by noisy ads, belongs doubtless to the roll of personal rights protected by Civil Code”.
Advertisers try to catch our attention by all means and year by year, TV commercials became for us more and more irritating. Annual inquires show that in 1995 35% of polish viewers were changing channel or leaving seats during commercials. In 2005 such reaction was declared by 75% frustrated TV fans.

Healthy children have the best chances for healthy, productive lives. As citizens of today’s world – not just as future contributors to society – children have the right to health protection and promotion (United Nations, 1989).

Just 5 weeks have left to the opening of Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in Parma, Italy. At this event, ministers of health and environment and experts from countries that belong to WHO’s European Region will assess the progress made since last conference in Budapest.
In 2004 Fourth Conference in Budapest, according to the statement on the top of this article, accepted “Children’s Environment and Health Action Plan for Europe” (CEHAPE). This plan was prepared to develop policies and actions to achieve safe environment in which children could reach highest possible level of health.

Every other in Sweden is disturbed by Noise! According to a recent report, noise is a major problem at work. Almost every employee is affected, says the president of Hörselskadades (Hearing impaired) Association (HRF), who commissioned the report. "The problem with the sound environment is everywhere - even in school and at cafes for example.

Luckily an increasing amount of organisations have found ways to overcome this challenging sitiuation...

Musicians, trained to hear sounds embedded in a rich network of melodies and harmonies, are primed to understand speech in a noisy background.

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At a hospital in the South of Sweden, a new meeting/lunch room was built for the staff at the emergency medical unit. When the staff used the room, they were not satisfied with the acoustics. A study was performed to evaluate how the room acoustic environment could be improved.

The relatively small acoustic intervention resulted in a lower sound pressure level and better speech intelligibility. It also resulted in a big change in how the staff perceives the sound environment.

Neil Logue and Emma Greenland

In November, groundbreaking new schools in Liverpool UK, hosted the BCSE World Learning Environments Conference which was organised by the British Council for School Environments. One of the breakout sessions was Acoustics, furniture and flexible spaces where Emma Greenland of WSP Group and Neil Logue, Managing Director of Kilworth Studio presented approaches and advice regarding how to ensure future flexible teaching and learning spaces can accomodate; immediate, short term and long term versatility.

Daily exposure to excessive noise in the workplace is the primary factor in many cases of hearing loss in the working population.

For more information read more about this and a series of articles published by hear it.org regarding excessive noise for office workers, teachers, nursery teachers, dentists, classical musicians and industrial workers

According to a recent study published by hear it.org, as many as 35 percent of school-children in Argentina suffer from hearing damage.

On behalf of all editors of Acoustic Bulletin we would like to thank all readers, the IOA conference organisers, all those we have met at the Ecophon stand and especially those who we have had interviews with. We trust that your inputs will be of great value to many and we look forward to keep in touch. See you, and we hope to catch up again in the near future.....

Alexey, Paulli, Holger, Tobias, Rainer, Jonas, Katrin, Martin, Anthony, Mikolaj, Guus, Mariëlle, Erling, Nils-Åke, Marc and Colin

Jonas Christensson made an interview with Andrew Parkin, Technical Director at RPS. They met shortly after Andrew had finished his lecture and Jonas grasped the opportunity to ask him a couple of questions.

Question 1:
What are the most important things to consider when we should create a good sound environment in open plan offices?
Listen to Andrew's answer (1,20 minutes)

Question 2:
How do we solve the need of concentration in open plan offices?
Listen to Andrew's answer (2,20 minutes)

More about Andrew Parkin or RPS Group:
Andrew Parkin - Technical Director, Birmingham Newland House - P&D
Tel: +44 (0)121 456 1560
Email: Andrew.Parkin@rpsgroup.com