CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Noise is the most persistent physical contaminant in human (Fernandez et al 2009). It can cause
a series of detrimental health effects on human beings, such as hearing loss, annoyance,
cardiovascular disease, sleep disturbance, immune effects, biochemical effects, reproductive
effects and performance effects, among which the best studied effect produced by the
overexposure to noise is loss of hearing (Fernandez et al 2009). Besides the risk of hearing
damage, noise may cause on memory, performance, headache, increase blood pressure, and
disturbance with activities (Berglund et al, 1990).
In the learning context, noise affects the behavior and understanding of students, and very noisy
places are unfavorable for learning and make teaching exhaustive (Hagen et al, 2002). Poor
acoustical condition and high noise levels can cause many problems for the instructors and
students. High sound levels may not only affect the verbal quality of communication but also
contribute to serious problems in the intellectual development of students, such as impaired
learning, writing and speaking difficulties, limitations in reading comprehension and
development of vocabulary (Berglund et al, 1990).

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Noise is the most persistent physical contaminant in human (Fernandez et al 2009). It can cause
a series of detrimental health effects on human beings, such as hearing loss, annoyance,
cardiovascular disease, sleep disturbance, immune effects, biochemical effects, reproductive
effects and performance effects, among which the best studied effect produced by the
overexposure to noise is loss of hearing (Fernandez et al 2009). Besides the risk of hearing
damage, noise may cause on memory, performance, headache, increase blood pressure, and
disturbance with activities (Berglund et al, 1990).
In the learning context, noise affects the behavior and understanding of students, and very noisy
places are unfavorable for learning and make teaching exhaustive (Hagen et al, 2002). Poor
acoustical condition and high noise levels can cause many problems for the instructors and
students. High sound levels may not only affect the verbal quality of communication but also
contribute to serious problems in the intellectual development of students, such as impaired
learning, writing and speaking difficulties, limitations in reading comprehension and
development of vocabulary (Berglund et al, 1990).

Research concerning the effects of classroom noise on student performance has resulted in
conflicting reports. For example, Broadbent (1958), Jerison (1959), and Lehmann, Creswell,
& Huffman (1965) reported that noise has a negative effect on performance. The effects of
noise pollution may impact learning, as well as physical and mental health. Therefore, the
purpose of the current research is to examine the effects of classroom noise on pupils’
performance with respect to various intellectual tasks.
This chapter consists of Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Objectives of the
Study, Research Questions, Research Hypotheses, Justification of the Study, Significance of
the Study, Scope of the Study and Operational Definition of Terms.
Background of the Study
This section reviews the historical, conceptual, theoretical and contextual background of the
study.
Historically, as late as the 1950s, most of the sounds on the planet Earth were probably still of
natural origin rather than derived from technological sources. Today, however, the opposite
appears to be true (Bragdon and Clifford, 1970). Noise pollution is today accepted as a
significant part of the larger problem of environmental pollution, and is considered an area of
concern with respect to community health. The increasing attention directed to noise is
reflected in the growing literature on the subject (Ramazzini, 1964).The problem of the noisy environment is not new, however, and noise has been recognized for
hundreds of years as hazardous to health. Impairment of hearing due to excessive noise was
described by Bernardino Ramazzini in the 1713 edition of his treatise on the diseases of
workers (Ramazzini, 1964). In the chapter on coppersmiths, he observes that “In every city,
e.g., at Venice, these workers were all congregated in one quarter and were engaged all day in
hammering copper to make it ductile so that with it they may manufacture vessels of various
kinds (Ramazzini, 1964). From this quarter there rises such a terrible din that only these
workers have shops and homes there; all others flee from that highly disagreeable locality.” As
a result, “the ears are injured by that perpetual din, and in fact the whole head, inevitably, so
that workers of this class become hard of hearing and, if they grow old at this work, completely
deaf. In fact, the same thing happens to them as to those who dwell near the Nile in Egypt, for
they are all deaf from the excessive uproar of the falling water.” (Ramazzini, 1964).
According to Pomeau (1966), before the Industrial Revolution, however, most people lived in
an agricultural environment, and comparatively few were exposed to excessive noise. Cities,
on the other hand, have always been noisy. Horse-drawn vehicles clattering down the narrow
cobblestoned streets of 18th century Paris contributed in no small measure to the noisy
commotion noted by visitors such as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu nor was the situation
radically different in Augustan Rome or Boss Tweed’s New York, but in general little or no
action was taken to deal with the noisy environmentThe situation changed rapidly, however, as cities grew in size during the 19th century, as
industry increasingly employed power-driven machinery, and as the technology of
transportation was transformed first by the steam engine and then by the internal combustion
engine. As a result, by the early 20th century recognition of noise and its effects as a health
problem could no longer be overlooked, and it began to be examined in the industrial countries
of Europe and in the United States (Pomeau, 1966).
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On the one hand, noise was studied in relation to occupation with particular attention to such
aspects as fatigue, nervous strain, and hearing impairment. Occupational deafness was found
in canners, rope makers, machinists, smiths, boilermakers, coppersmiths, sewing machine
operators, and workers in cotton mills. As industrial mechanization spread so did the number
of noisy occupations, so that by 1938 over 560 occupations were classified by the Detroit
Health Department under this heading. Today the number of such occupations is even greater,
and as numerous surveys have revealed, occupational deafness is a widespread industrial hazard (Bell,1966).
Because noise pollution caused so many problems, the United States government passed laws
to regulate noise. In 1987, for example, Congress passed the National Overflights Act. This
law called for studies to determine the effect of air traffic over national parks. It also prohibited
low-flying planes from flying over certain parts of Grand Canyon National Park. Since 1972,
when the Noise Control Act was passed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been
responsible for researching and regulating noise pollution in the United States. The Noise
Control Act reads in part as follows: “The Congress declares that it is the policy of the United
States to promote an environment for all Americans free from noise that jeopardizes their health
or welfare.” Between 1972 and 1981, EPA’s Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC)
issued hundreds of reports about the severity of noise pollution in America, trained community
leaders in ways to reduce noise pollution, and recommended numerous regulations to reduce
the impact. Its work was designed to educate communities and set uniform emission standards
throughout the country (Bragdon and Clifford, 1970).
In 1982, however, ONAC was shut down as part of President Reagan’s deficit reduction plan.
The Noise Control Act was never repealed or amended, but it was no longer enforced at the
federal level. By 1999, the poorly funded ONAC was maintaining only a “skeleton” office. At the same time, some sections of the Noise Control Act pertaining to labeling, noise emission
standards, and noise sources were in need of updating (Bragdon and Clifford, 1970).
As of 2006, noise pollution is viewed as an environmental problem in the United States and
many other industrialized countries. Federal, state, and local laws and standards have been
enacted to minimize noise. Road development and urban planning must take into consideration
the noise that they will generate during the construction and maintenance of such projects.
Building codes specifically state restrictions to noise (Bragdon and Clifford, 1970).
Internationally, as late as the 1950s, most of the sounds on the planet Earth were probably still
of natural origin rather than derived from technological sources. Today, however, the opposite
appears to be true. Noise pollution, sometimes called environmental pollution, is human or
machine sounds that are created, which disrupt the natural environment and society in general
(Hansen & Colin, 2005). Cars, trucks, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chain saws, power drills,
television, radio, video games, computers, and so forth adds to an almost endless list of noise
makers in modern life. Moreover, the world keeps getting noisier. Noise—which can be
defined as unwanted sound waves that were not present in the pre–modern electromagnetic
spectrum—is one of the most common forms of pollution, one that can easily damage the
hearing and general health of people and animals (Hansen & Colin, 2005).
Conceptually, noise refers to sounds that hinder an individual’s ability to listen to what they
want or need to hear (Staples, 2014). Classroom noise can arise from several possible sources,including external noise such as traffic noise and internal noise such as students running in
corridors and room noise as students talking. Noise has many definitions depending on where
the sounds exist and its effect to the recipient. The definitions of noise by Christopher are
“sound which is consequently it can be considered as the wrong sound in the wrong place at
the wrong time (Kiely, 1997). Noise refers to an unwanted sound that is judged to be
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unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. The Oxford Dictionary’s definition of ‘noise’ is ‘a
sound, especially when it is loud, unpleasant or disturbing’ (Flemming, (2021).
Noise also is any sound that interferes with: Physical transmission of sound, physiological
comfort during communication, mental process of thinking about communication, and
symbolic meaning systems (Norris, 2016). Studies have shown that prolonged and regular
exposure to excessive noise results to both physical and psychological health consequences
which among others include hearing impairment, hypertension, ischemic heart disease,
annoyance, and sleep disturbance (Norris, 2016)According to Gillelege, (2022) when categorizing noise, there are generally four main types:
continuous, intermittent, impulsive, and low-frequency. The main differentiating factor
between these types is how the noise changes with time. Continuous Noise as is obvious by the
name, continuous noise is the noise that remains stable and constant over a given period. For
instance, machinery that operates without interruption produces continuous noise. As opposed
to continuous noise, noise is said to be variable or intermittent if it is a mixture of somewhat
noisy and quiet periods. Intermittent noise levels tend to increase and decrease rapidly;
different operations or variable noise sources can cause the intermittent sound to change over
time. Impulse or impact noise is defined as extremely short bursts of loud noise that last for no
more than a second. This may seem to be a rather negligible period, but in a usually calm and
peaceful environment, a single, extremely loud noise can also cause sufficient hearing damage.
Physiological performance can be defined as changes in the structure and function of the body
(Chegg, 2021). Educational or academic performance is the extent to which a student, teacher
or institution has attained their short or long-term educational goals (Annie, Stoke r& MurrayWard ,1996). Thus physio-educational performance of a pupil has to do with pupils’ health and
academic welfare.

Theoretically, three theories will guide this study: Bottle neck Theory of selective attention by
Donald Broadbent (1992), Attenuation theory by Treisman (1964), Bronfenbrenner Ecological
systems theory (1974)
Bottle neck Theory of selective attention by Donald Broadbent (1992)
The bottleneck theory suggests that individuals have a limited number of attentional resources
that they can use at one time. Therefore, information and stimuli are ‘filtered’ somehow so that
only the most salient and important information is perceived. This theory was proposed by
Broadbent in 1958. Picture a large bottle filled with sand that is turned upside down. The
bottleneck restricts the flow of sand so that it slowly pours out instead of coming out all at
once. Stimuli in our environment in the same way – if we perceived every visual, auditory,
olfactory, and tactile sense all at once all of the time our brains would be overflowing
(Alleydog, 2020).
In line with this study and according to Broadbent, people pay attention to one stimulus from
the environment at a time through selective attention, as such when noise from the environment
gets the attention of the learner at the time when a lesson is going on, learning is impeded and by
extension decline in academic performance.

Multitasking has a loophole of encouraging the rush in decision making. In most cases, the
controllers, such as a student in the classroom, may often have a hard time dealing with all the
required activities during the lesson.
Anne Treisman proposed her selective attention theory in 1964. His theory is based on the
earlier model by Broadbent. Treisman also believed that this human filter selects sensory inputs
on the basis of physical characteristics. However, she argued that the unattended sensory inputs
(the ones that were not chosen by the filter and remain in the sensory buffer) are attenuated by
the filter rather than eliminated. Attenuation is a process in which the unselected sensory inputs
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are processed in decreased intensity. For instance, if you selectively attend to a ringing phone
in a room where there’s TV, a crying baby, and people talking, the later three sound sources are
attenuated or decreased in volume. However, when the baby’s cry goes louder, you may turn
your attention to the baby because the sound input is still there, not lost (Sincero, 2013).
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory views child development as a complex system of
relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment, from immediate settings of family and school to broad cultural values, laws, and customs. To study a child’s
development then, we must look not only at the child and her immediate environment, but also
at the interaction of the larger environment as well.
Bronfenbrenner divided the person’s environment into five different systems: the microsystem,
the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem. The microsystem is
the most influential level of the ecological systems theory. This is the most immediate
environmental settings containing the developing child, such as family and school.
In support of this study, Bronfenbrenner purports that children’s development are not only
affect by the people and culture of their environment but by activities that goes on in their
environment and why not environmental hazards like noise pollution. All these has the
potential of influencing their physical and academic welfare.
Contextually, according to the findings of the World Health Organisation (WHO), noise is the
second largest environmental cause of health problems, just after the impact of air quality
(particulate matter). Nowadays, society is growing day by day, the development of industry,
traffic transport and entertainment have produced a higher quality of life for humans. A person
can own high technology electronic devises in their house, go to work and study easily by
public transports or go everywhere by trains and airplanes and usually participate parties and
meetings in modern life. Is that a good life? Humans have to build many factories and workshops for enough products supplying, public transports must be created what are bigger
and stronger, Parties and meetings lead to so much waste and noise. Consequently, it can be
the development of society bring people both a good life and damages. For example, damages
are air pollution, water pollution. And noise pollution is a new one. Noise is unwanted sounds
what are generated from factories, workshops, traffic jams, train whistles, airplanes, parties,
meetings with high level of loudspeakers and talking loudly (Nguyen, 2013).
Noise pollution is being a big issue in the world, because it directly affects health, working
efficiency and relationship. Noise causes the heart diseases, disturb and also cause bad
behavior. In that case, an individual has to regard and be careful about noise when working,
communicating. Do not talk too much and use loudspeakers at parties and meeting during
overtime. Rather, the government has to improve both traffic system to avoid traffic jam and
working quality of vehicles and public transports is better and working of factories and
constructions to control noise at low level. Life can be better when people achieve reduced
noise levels and live in healthy and peaceful environment. Awareness among all and
determination to implement the noise standards can lead to a silent atmosphere without any
disease and disturb from noise (Nguyen, 2013).
According to Arku (2021) Urban growth in Cameroon like in other Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
countries is largely unplanned and marked by significant environmental pollution. The fewmeasurement studies in the region show that air and noise pollution, which come from diverse
sources, are now a major growing public health concern in cities. The diversity of sources in
SSA cities influences the air pollution mixture and noise levels, creating large exposure
disparities in relation to spatial and socioeconomic factors, with potentially huge impacts on
health inequalities and by socioeconomic status. Yet, there is little information on urban air
and noise pollution impacts in the SSA setting to support policy and behavioral decisions.
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Noise pollution from same/related sources/factors is on the rise in SSA cities and may impact
child growth and development through pathways like stress and sleep disturbance; sleep is a
critical health outcome, related to immune health, mental health, and cognitive function in early
childhood. Despite the differences in exposure and additional risks, the evidence of
associations between air and noise pollution exposures with adverse birth outcomes, and sleep
health in early childhood are mostly from populations in exposure settings quite different from
those in urban SSA. Lack of data in this population represent a major gap in our knowledgand a barrier to the formulation and evaluation of policies to reduce environmental exposures
in the region (Arku, 2021).
According to Adedeji, (2013) in Africa among the problem associated with technological
advancement made by man in modern times which is not receiving enough attention from those
responsible for the planning and designing of the built environment is noise pollution. Noise
from industrial areas is often overlooked and has received very little attention over the years.
In Africa, many industrial estates are located within the heart of towns and cities, while
residential and commercial buildings might just find their way into industrial zones as a result
of poor enforcement of town planning laws. Without strict environmental regulation and
control laws in many developing countries, industrial noise sources can pose severe health risks
(Nwobodo et al., 2004). The observed effects of noise on motivation, as measured by
persistence with a difficult cognitive task, may either be independent or secondary to cognitive
impairments (SRC, 2007). Homes, schools, hospitals and other structures found in industrial
areas could be adversely affected by environmental noise. Depending on its duration and
volume, the effects of noise on human health and comfort are divided into four categories;
physical effects, such as hearing defects; physiological effects, such as increased blood
pressure, irregularity of heart rhythms and ulcers; psychological effects, such as disorders,
sleeplessness and going to sleep late, irritability and stress; and finally effects on workperformance, such as reduction of productivity and misunderstanding what is heard (Ozer,
2009)
In Cameroon, there are several indicators that noise pollution is really a problem. For instance,
noise complaints, professional field observations and comments of noise discussion events
indicate the existence of the problem in the city. Preliminary quantitative noise pollution survey
in the city does also indicate that the city has been entertaining the problem (Kucha, 2011).
Many studies addressing the problem of noise pollution in educational institutes throughout the
world have been conducted. Ikenberry (1974) has analyzed some effects of noise pollution to
school students, such as students found difficult to hear the teacher, lectures, classroom
discussions, and other activities.
Slater (1968) in his research work showed that students can perform better under quite
condition than under noisy condition. In Cameroon most educational institutes are located near
the busy places such as bus stand, market area, busy roads etc. Therefore, these educational
institutes may suffer from noises and hence disturbing in school activities like teaching,
learning & discussion session. Like hospitals and nursing homes educational institutions are
categorized as a silence zone, because in educational facilities people teach and people learn.
In the urban city of Limbe which is an industrial zone, many schools are located beside
factories, markets and busy surrounding and all these have. The environment emit noise thatfilter in learning environment, be they nursery, primary or secondary educational institution.
All these might have adverse effect on the teaching learning processes and the efficiency of the
learners.
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Statement of the Problem
Hearing and understanding are important parts of the learning process. Reducing the ambient,
intrusive noise in our schools will lead to an improved learning experience for students, but
also improve their long-term health (Simonsen,2020).
A quiet classroom helps teachers and students. It is especially important to have a quiet room
if a student has hearing loss in one or both ears; an ear infection or fluid in the ear; a learning
disability; auditory processing disorder; speech and language delay; and/or attention problemTeachers also do better if there are good classroom acoustics. Talking in a loud classroom
strains the teacher’s voice and may lead to voice problems.
Over the years in Limbe, the academic environments of educational institutions have been
characterized with noise (from poor acoustic, poor classroom management) and this has posed
a serious problem to learning process. Noise has a detrimental effect on academic environment
and learning behaviour of students. Activities affected by noise include memory, reading,
motivation, and attention.
Being a worker in Limbe for close to a decade, the researcher observed that the academic
performance pupils in primary school are below expectation. The pupils graduate from primary
schools without mastery or effective acquisition of the pre-requisite knowledge, skills, values
and competences for secondary education. Most of them can read, spell and write effectively
and efficiently. More so, they can’t solve problems that require creativity and critical thinking.
A lot of factors are responsible for better academic performance of primary school pupils. They
include the appropriateness of the physical and social environment of class, motivation of
teachers and students for teaching and learning, and students’ cognitive, emotional and motor
preparation. Others are sound management of class by teachers, teachers’ mastery over the
subject, and their passion for the work as well as students’ progressThere is increasing evidence that poor classroom acoustics can have a particularly negative
effect on students with special needs. These effects include hearing impairment, irritability,
stress, memory loss, inability to read and distraction during lessons.
As a result of the foregoing, the researcher seeks to find out if classroom noise affects the
physio-educational performance of primary school pupils in Limbe 1 sub-division.
Objective of the Study
General Objective
The general objective of this study is to find out how classroom noise affects the physioeducational performance of primary school pupils in Limbe1 sub-division.
Specific Objectives
Specifically, the study set out to achieve the following:
– Find out the different type of noise in the classroom environment
– Determine the causes of noise in the classroom environment
– Examine the effect of noise on the physiological performance of pupils
– Investigate the effect of noise on the academic performance of pupils
– To what extent noise can be managed to enhance pupils’ physio-academic
performance.
Research Questions

General Research Question
The general research question for this study is: How does classroom noise affects the physioeducational performance of primary school pupils in Limbe1 sub-division.
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Specific Research Questions
The specific research questions for this study are:
1. What are the different types of noise in the classroom environment?
2. What are the causes of noise in the classroom environment?
3. To what level does classroom noise affect the academic performance of pupils?
4. To what extent does classroom noise affect the physiological performance of pupils?
5. To what extent can noise be managed to enhance pupils’ physio-educational
performance?