Music Teachers for Noise Pollution

Question:

Write an essay on The music teachers of the music schools.

Answer:

Introduction:

The music teachers of the music schools are found to be exposed to an intensely high level of noise, which not only harms their hearing power, but may lead to serious hearing problems. Keeping in mind, the ill consequences of music teaching in schools, this article discusses about a research that was conducted on the music teachers of 15 high Schools, to examine the effect of noise, created in the process of teaching music, on the hearing power of the teachers. Further, the research conducted, enlightens the readers about the effective methods which can be adopted to reduce the problem of noise pollution in the music schools (Kotus and Kostek 2014).

Summary:

It has been observed that the music teachers, are experiencing frequent exposure to high level of noise, while teaching music to the students in the high school. For this reason, a research was conducted, that involved the participation of 18 teachers from 15 different schools. The research was conducted with the purpose of investigating how far the environment, the number of students present in class and the duration of each of the music activities, play an integral role, in creating noise or increasing the noise level in class. Since, while imparting music lessons to the students, the teachers can experience incredibly high and intense noise level, that can lead to temporary or permanent loss of hearing capacity, the investigation became extremely relevant. From the research, it was being found out that some specific musical instruments, such as brass, or percussion, are more noisy than other instruments, and if overused, without much protection, can lead to serious hearing problem of the music teachers (Basner et al. 2014). Further, it was found out that although the students are also exposed to high level of noise in the music classes, the length of time the teachers spend in the music room, is way too greater than that of the students, and as a result they  are much disastrously affected than the students. Further, the research suggested that if the music room is not large enough, the teachers may become deaf, if not provided with some engineering noise control systems.

Discussion:

Although the teachers in Canada suffer from daily, continuous exposure to the intense level of noise, there is a striking absence of law stating the limit of the noise levels. Hence, it is absolutely important to create awareness in the music schools about the harm caused by excessive noise level, and by providing adequate measures to prevent the same. The use of earplugs can be a beneficial means of protecting the ears from unwanted noise (Murphy et al. 2014). Further, the audiometric tests can help the institutes to understand the level and the intensity of the noise level, so that effective measures can be taken to combat the problem. Since, a small and confined area of classroom, with greater strength of students, will create greater noise level, it is also advisable that the size of the rooms meant for music activity should be a large one, so as to help in the absorption of the noise level (Foaud et al. 2013). 

Noise Exposure of Music Teachers

Critical Discussion

The process of approximation used in this particular study on level of noise exposure is expressed as L ex represented in dBA. The L ex is a measurement that is normalized during a 8 hour period with the supposition that during the rest of the day a specific person stays in a quiet environment that has a sound level <70 dBA that cannot lead to any hearing loss (Pinch and Bijsterveld 2012). The L ex is calculated from the computed Leq that is standardized over a period of 8 hours (Lex= Leq+10 Log t/8). Finally, different factors of enumeration error involved in the measurement of Leq are approximated as +/-2dB for the enumeration of the sound level. The results tabulated in the study essentially present the results of the questionnaire distributed to all the 18 participants who are essentially music teachers working 15 schools.  As per the given article, the logged data along with the outcomes of the questionnaire creates the database.

The table 1 represents the L eq and the L ex based on the responses from 18 participants on specific measured duration Hr. The L eq reflects the duration of measurement and the enumerated 8 hour L ex. The subsequent table shows the Leq by the level of activity as well as type of school. The table includes five different activities that consist of singing, percussion, key board, recorder as well as band. The table also presents the number of samples, mean, standard deviation as well as range for different types of activities in the two different types of schools (Choudhary, Dhawan and Gandhi 2013). The time of exposure is not directly pertinent for a teacher working in over and above two different kinds of activities every day in each week. Therefore, for the teacher working on in excess of one kind of activity, then the  L ex can be enumerated by referring to the average time set out for each category of the activity every day. In case of the L ex is over and above the 85 dBA then that teacher can be considered to be exposed to excess noise. Therefore, it calls for the need for the corrective measures that can lessen the exposure (Jakab 2011). The table 3 presents the Leq in different classes that have diverse number of students and performing similar tasks that shows that doubling of the volume of the room lowers the exposure to noise. However, the size of the sample does not help in creation of statistically conclusive results (Haruna and Mathew Nnamdi 2013). 

Conclusion 

The above study critically evaluates different factors involved in the assessment of the noise exposure of music teachers. The present study also analyses the risk of loss of hearing of different music schoolteachers during different course of the study. The current study presents a critical analysis of the information acquired from the survey conducted on 18 music teachers by means of application of different statistical tools and tabular formats in order to arrive at conclusive results. The tables presented in the article helps in understanding the average results, the extent of dispersion of the results that is dispersion along with the standard deviation of different activities in two different types of school. This in turn helps in a carrying out a comparative analysis of the different activities associated to the nature and extent of the exposure to noise of music teachers. The current study also helps in gaining comprehensive understanding regarding the different factors that raises the sound exposures along with the ways to reduce the same.  

Reference List:

Basner, M., Babisch, W., Davis, A., Brink, M., Clark, C., Janssen, S. and Stansfeld, S., 2014. Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health.The Lancet, 383(9925), pp.1325-1332.

Choudhary, A., Dhawan, N. and Gandhi, V. (2013). Noise Pollution Monitoring. Saarbru?cken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.

Fouad, M.M.M. and El-Bendary, N., 2013. Intelligent detection and control for environmental noise pollution. American Academic & Scholarly Research Journal, 5(3 special issue), p.272.

Haruna, A. and Mathew Nnamdi, A. (2013). Measurement and analysis of noise levels in Kaduna metropolis, Nigeria. Saarbru?cken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.

Jakab, C. (2011). Pollution. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.

Kotus, Joseph, and Bo?ena Kostek. "Investigation of noise threats and their impact on hearing in selected schools–a pilot study." Archives of Acoustics31.4 (S) (2014): 417-424.

Murphy, E. and King, E., 2014. Environmental Noise Pollution: Noise Mapping, Public Health, and Policy. Newnes.

Pinch, T. and Bijsterveld, K. (2012). The Oxford handbook of sound studies. New York: Oxford University Press.

Proceedings of the 2012 ASSE Professional Development Conference & Exposition, Denver, Colorado, June 3-6, 2012. (2012). Des Plaines, Ill.: American Society of Safety Engineers.

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