Abstract
The aim of this research was to examine the relationship between exposure to classroom noise and the psychological well-being of full-time teaching staff in 14 preschool settings located across Western Sydney. The participants comprised 25 teachers, each of whom was administered a range of instruments. The results indicated that 40% of teachers were subjected to daily or peak noise exposures beyond the maximum permissible levels according to the Australian Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) standard. Further, the unique contribution of daily noise dose received by the staff to the prediction of their vocational strain, interpersonal strain, and defensive functioning was evident through multiple regression analyses. It was concluded that vocational strain amongst preschool teachers may be related, in part, to a combination of elevated daily doses of noise, and years of teaching experience.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Speech — Language — Hearing Association (2004)Noise, Retrieved: December 10, 2004. http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/disorders/noise.htm
Bacon, N.M., S.F. Bacon, J.H. Atkinson, M.A. Slater, T.L. Patterson, I. Grant & S.R. Garfin (1994) Somatization symptoms in chronic low back pain patients,Psychosomatic Medicine, vol. 56, pp.118–127.
Barsky, A.J. (1988)Worried Sick, Little Brown, Boston.
Baxter, R.A. (2000)Environmental Factors in Children Behaviours in Early Childhood Settings, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Newcastle, Australia.
Conte, H.R. & A. Apter (1995) The life style index: A self-report measure of egodefences, in H.R. Conte & R. Plutchik, eds.,Ego Defences: Theory and measurement, pp.179–201, John Wiley, New York.
Doherty, G.W. (1999) Disaster work and stress,Proceedings of the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference, Laramie, Wyoming, 11–14 February, Retrieved: May 3, 2004. http://www.angelfire.com/biz/odoc/disasterstress.html
Donoghue, P. & M. Siegel (1994)Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired: Living with invisible chronic illness, Norton Press, New York.
Evans G.W. & D. Johnson (2000) Stress and open office noise,Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 85, no. 5, pp.779–783.
Evans, G.W. & S.J. Lepore (1993) Nonauditory effects of noise on children: A critical review,Children’s Environments, vol. 10, no. 1, pp.31–51.
Evans, G.W. & L.E. Maxwell (1997) Chronic noise exposure and reading deficits: The mediating effects of language acquisition,Environment and Behavior, vol. 29, no. 5, pp.638–656.
Finlay-Jones, R. (1986) Factors in the teaching environment associated with severe psychological distress among school teachers,Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 20, no. 3, pp.304–313.
Galloway, D., F. Panckurst, K. Boswell, C. Boswell & K. Green (1984a) Mental health, absence from work, stress and satisfaction in a sample of New Zealand primary school teachers,Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 18, no. 2, pp.359–363.
Galloway, D., F. Panckurst, K. Boswell, C. Boswell & K. Green (1984b) The health of primary school teachers,New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, pp.136–142.
Glass, D.C. & J.E. Singer (1972)Urban Stress: Experiments on noise and social stressors. Academic Press, New York.
Goldberg, D. & P. Williams (1991/1988)A User’s Guide to the General Health Questionnaire, NFER-Nelson, Windsor, UK.
Hodge, G., J. Jupp & A. Taylor (1994) Work stress, distress and burnout in music and mathematics teachers,British Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 64, pp.65–76.
Jarvis, M. (2002) Teacher stress: A critical review of recent findings and suggestions for future research directions,Stress News, vol. 14, no. 1, Retrieved: September 27, 2004. http://www.isma.org.uk/stressnews.htm
Kalveram, K.T. (2000) How acoustical noise can cause physiological and psychological reactions: Behavioural-ecological considerations on the origin of the capability to experience annoyance,Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Transport Noise and Vibration, St. Petersburg, 6–8 June (CD).
Kryter, K.D. (1994)Handbook of Hearing and the Effects of Noise: Physiology, psychology, and public health, Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, CA.
Maddi, S.R. & S. C. Kobasa (1984)The Hardy Executive: Health Under Stress, The Dorsey Press, New York.
Maxwell, L.E. & G.W. Evans (1999)Design of Child Care Centers and Effects of Noise on Young Children, Design Share, Inc., Minneapolis, MI.
McLaren, S.J. & P.J. Dickinson (2002) Noise in early educational facilities and impacts on the children and teaching staff,Inter-Noise 2002: Proceedings of the 2002 International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering, Dearborn, MI, 19–21 August, (CD).
National Code of Practice for Noise Management and Protection of Hearing at Work, 2nd ed. (2000), National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, Canberra, ACT.
Nelson, P. & S. Soli (2000) Acoustical barriers in learning: Children at risk in every classroom,Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, vol. 31, pp.385–388.
Osipow, S.H. (1998/1981)Occupational Stress Inventory Revised Edition (OSI-R) Professional Manual, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., Odessa, Fl.
Pithers. R. & G. Fogarty (1995) Symposium on teacher stress: Occupational stress among vocational teachers,British Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 65, pp.3–14.
Plutchik, R., H. Kellerman & H.R. Conte (1979) A structural theory of ego defences and emotions, in C.E. Izard, ed.,Emotions in Personality and Psychopathology, pp.229–257, Plenum Press, New York.
Plutchik, R. (1995) A theory of ego defences, in H.R. Conte & R. Plutchik, eds.,Ego Defences: Theory and Measurement, pp.13–37, John Wiley, New York.
Romanova, E. & L. Grebennikov (1996)The Ego Defence Mechanisms: Genesis, functioning, assessment, Talant, Moscow.
Selye, H. (1956)The Stress of Life, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York.
Smith, A., C. Brice, A. Collins, V. Matthews & R. McNamara (2000)The Scale of Occupational Stress: A further analysis of the impact of demographic factors and type of job (Health & Safety Executive contract research report No. 311/2000), HSE Books, Sudbury, UK.
Sorkin, D. (2000) The classroom acoustical environment and Americans with disabilities act,Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, vol. 31, pp.356–361.
Warrilow, P., K. Fisher, K. Cummings, J. Sumsion & C. Beckett (2002)Early Childhood Teachers and Qualified Staff: A Report prepared for the NSW Department of Community Services, Office of Childcare, University of New South Wales, Social Policy Research Centre, Sydney.
Wilder, J.F. & R. Plutchik (1984) Stress and psychiatry, in H.I. Kaplan & B.J. Sadock, eds.,Comprehensive Textbook on Psychiatry: Vol. 2, 4th ed., pp.1198–1203, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore.
Wilhelm, K, J. Dewhurst-Savellis & G. Parker (2000) Teacher stress? An analysis of why teachers leave and why they stay,Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, vol. 6, no. 3, pp.292–304.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Grebennikov, L., Wiggins, M. Psychological effects of classroom noise on early childhood teachers. Aust. Educ. Res. 33, 35–53 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216841
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03216841