Messung und Bewertung von Lärm in Kindertagesstätten

Abstract

Noise is one of the main factors for stress and discomfort at working places in child care facilities, and it is also one major reason for job changes and early retirements. This study investigated noise at a kindergarten site comprising several groups of children of the two typical age groups 0 to 3 years (German "Krippe") and 3 to 6 years (German ,.Kindergarten"). Noise was assessed subjectively by means of a questionnaire, as well as objectively by means of long-Term level measurements in 12 different rooms. The subjective evaluation indicated that playing children and toy noise were the most dominant noise sources. It also showed a strong influence of day time, week day, and season on perceived noise. This was also reflected in the long-Term level measurement in the group rooms, where median values of sound pressure level distributions showed similar trends. Peak sound pressure levels measured for blocks of 125 ms exceeded 90 dBA for the majority of days in the meas urement period of more than 30 weeks. In addition to the noise assessment, a collection of simple noise reduction measures was collected from interviews and previous literature. This catalog of measures was presented to and partly implemented by child care workers in the facility under investigation. A subjective assessment of the implemented measures one year later showed a large satisfaction, indicating that subjective noise reduction can be achieved by relatively simple low-price measures