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Study of Environmental Noise Pollution in the University of Dammam

Campus

Article · January 2014

DOI: 10.4103/1658-631X.142532

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CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
Melatonin
Abdulaziz A. Al-Quorain 133
REVIEW ARTICLES
The Uses of Melatonin in Anesthesia and Surgery
Hany A. Mowafi, Salah A. Ismail 134
Prevalence, Severity, and Secular Trends of Dental Caries among Different Saudi Populations:
A Literature Review
Asim A. Al-Ansari 142
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Infants of Diabetic Mothers: 4 Years Analysis of Neonatal Care Unit in a Teaching Hospital,
Saudi Arabia
Mohammad H. Al-Qahtani 151
A Comparison between Estimates of Glomerular Filtration Rate Using
Technetium-99m-Diethylene-Triamine-Pentaacetic Acid Clearance and Modification of Diet

Saudi Journal of Medicine & Medical Sciences ISSN 1658-631X / VOL. 2 / ISSUE 3 / December 2014 Pages 133-238
in Renal Disease Equation
Amrah Javaid, Iqbal Munir, Saghir A. Jaffri, Muhammad H. Qazi, Muhammad K. Nawaz 157
The Use of Transcranial Doppler Pulsatility Index to Guide Intracranial Pressure Monitoring in
Intoxicated Traumatic Brain Injury Patients
Hosam Al-Jehani 162
Students Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness Process in Saudi Arabian Medical Colleges:
A Comparative Study of Students’ and Faculty Members Perception
Ahmed A. Al-Kuwaiti 166
Major Indications for Keratoplasty in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia
Khalid M. Al Arfaj, Reem A. Al Abdulqader 173
Study of Environmental Noise Pollution in the University of Dammam Campus
Mahmoud F. El-Sharkawy, Ali S. R. Alsubaie 178
Three Decades of Anesthesiology Research at King Fahd Hospital of the University:
Bibliometric Analysis of Volume and Visibility
Abdulmohsen A. Al-Ghamdi, Hany A. Mowafi 185
Physicians’ Override of Computerized Alerts for Contraindicated Medications in Patients
Hospitalized with Chronic Kidney Disease
Hana Alharthi, Adel Youssef 190
Anatomic and Anaesthetic Considerations of Greater Palatine Nerve Block in Indian Population
Nidhi Sharma, Rohit Varshney, Sudhakar Ray 197
Flexural Strength of Dental Porcelains with Thermocycling and Different Firing Protocols
Aws S. A. ArRejaie 202
CASE REPORTS
Axillary Fibroadenoma: Case Report and Review of Literature
Suryapratap Singh, Saranjeet Singh 207
Bilateral Cervical Chondro-cutaneous Remnants
Sameer A.H. Ansari, Sushma N. Ramraje, Shalini R. Gupta, Nitin S. Deore 210
Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis: A Case Report with Review of the Literature
Abdulla I. Al-Musa, Muhammed M. Pallippath, Anas M. Hussameddin, Abdulaziz A. Al-Quorain 213
Using Etanercept to Maintain Remission of Psoriatic Arthritis During Pregnancy
Ibrahim A. Al-Homood, Mansour Somaily 216
Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor of the Kidney: Case Report in a 13 Year-Old Boy
Hamed M. El-Darawany 219
Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome and Nutcracker Phenomenon
Awwad Alenezy, Al Dhafeeri Obaid, Abeer Al Qattan, Ahmed Hamad 223

many more...

ISSN 1658-631X / VOL.2 / ISSUE 3 / DECEMBER 2014

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Study of Environmental Noise Pollution in the University of Dammam

Campus
Mahmoud F. El-Sharkawy, Ali S. R. Alsubaie
Department of Environmental Health, College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Dammam, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Correspondence: Dr. Mahmoud Fathy El-Sharkawy, P. O. Box 2435, Dammam - 31451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
E-mail: msharkawy@ud.edu.sa

ABSTRACT

Context: Noise pollution has been well-recognized as one of the major trepidations that can adversely affect public
health and quality-of-life in urban areas across the globe. Community noise, or environmental noise, includes the primary
sources of road, rail and air traffic, industries, and public works.
Aims: The main aim of this study is to assess the noise level inside the University of Dammam (UD) campus.
Settings and Design: Three different locations were selected for measuring noise levels during this study; outside walls,
the internal streets, and inside several buildings of the UD campus.
Materials and Methods: Levels of the environmental noise pollution were measured at three different periods of the
academic year 2011-2012; during study days, final exams and the holiday periods.
Statistical Analysis Used: Results of this research were statistically analyzed by the Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences SPSS program.
Results: Levels of noise outside walls of the UD campus were higher than those inside the campus walls at all periods.
Inside the UD campus, levels of noise were the highest at locations that are characterized by the high traffic movement.
In addition, the highest level of noise was recorded during the studying period, while the lowest level was obtained
during the holiday period. Levels of the indoor noise inside buildings of the campus were nearly the same or very slightly
higher than those of the outdoor levels which indicate that the effect of human activity inside university buildings on
noise pollution can be neglected comparing with the outdoor sources.
Conclusion: Both levels of noise inside and outside buildings were higher than their guideline values. These high noise levels
require effective environmental control strategies and increasing awareness between all staff members inside universities camps.

Key words: Environmental health, environmental noise pollution, noise guidelines, public health and bad effects of
noise, traffic activity
: ‫ﻣﻠﺨﺺ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ‬

‫ ﺗﻬﺪﻑ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﺪﺭﺍﺳﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺗﻘﻴﻴﻢ ﻣﺴﺘﻮﻯ ﺍﻟﺘﻠﻮﺙ‬.‫ ﻭﺗﺴﺒﺐ ﺍﻟﻀﻮﺿﺎء ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺌﻴﺔ ﺃﺿﺮﺍﺭًﺍ ﺻﺤﻴﺔ‬.‫ﺗﻌﺘﺒﺮ ﺍﻟﻀﻮﺿﺎء ﻣﻦ ﺃﻫﻢ ﺍﻟﻤﻠﻮﺛﺎﺕ ﻧﻈﺮﺍ ﻟﺘﻌﺪﺩ ﻣﺼﺎﺩﺭﻫﺎ‬
‫ ﺗﺆﻛﺪ ﺍﻟﻨﺘﺎﺋﺞ ﺃﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺪﺭ ﺍﻟﺮﺋﻴﺲ ﻟﻠﺘﻠﻮﺙ ﺍﻟﻀﻮﺿﺎﺋﻲ ﺩﺍﺧﻞ ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺪﻣﺎﻡ ﻫﻮ ﺣﺮﻛﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﺳﻮﺍء ﺧﺎﺭﺝ ﺃﻭ‬.‫ﺍﻟﻀﻮﺿﺎﺋﻲ ﺩﺍﺧﻞ ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺪﻣﺎﻡ‬
‫ ﻣﻤﺎ ﻳﻌﻨﻲ ﺃﻥ ﺗﺄﺛﻴﺮ ﺍﻟﻨﺸﺎﻁ ﺍﻟﺒﺸﺮﻱ ﻳﻌﺘﺒﺮ ﺿﻌﻴﻔﺎ‬، ‫ ﻭﻛﺎﻧﺖ ﻣﺴﺘﻮﻳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻀﻮﺿﺎء ﺩﺍﺧﻞ ﻣﺒﺎﻧﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﻛﻤﺜﻴﻼﺗﻬﺎ ﺧﺎﺭﺝ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺎﻧﻲ‬.‫ﺩﺍﺧﻞ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻣﻌﺔ‬
.‫ ﻭﻗﺪ ﺗﺠﺎﻭﺯﺕ ﻣﺴﺘﻮﻳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻀﻮﺿﺎء ﺍﻟﺤﺪﻭﺩ ﺍﻵﻣﻨﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻘﺮﺭﺓ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻘﻮﺍﻧﻴﻦ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺌﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺤﻠﻴﺔ‬.‫ﻣﻘﺎﺭﻧﺔ ﺑﺎﻟﻤﺼﺎﺩﺭ ﺍﻟﺨﺎﺭﺟﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﻀﻮﺿﺎء‬

Access this article online INTRODUCTION

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Noise pollution and its effect on human health and
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his welfare is recently considered as an important and
vital issue which encourages scientists and interested
DOI:
10.4103/1658-631X.142532 agencies all over the world, such as World Health
Organization (WHO), to conduct more researches

178 Saudi Journal of Medicine & Medical Sciences | Vol. 2 | Issue 3 | December 2014 | 178-184
 El-Sharkawy and Alsubaie: Noise pollution in the University of Dammam
concerning assessment of its levels and harmful effects.[1]
Community noise, or environmental noise, is one of the
most common pollutants. It is defined by the WHO as
noise emitted from all activities in the community, except
the industrial sectors. Examples of these activities include
road, rail and air traffic, educational, construction and
public works, recreational and the neighborhood.[2] In
recent times, the environmental noise pollution has been
recognized as one of the major environmental factors
that adversely affects the quality-of-life in all countries
of the world, particularly the urban areas. Levels of
environmental noise pollution increase rapidly with the
progress of years due to the rapid increase in human
activities such as transportation, industrialization, and
urbanization.[3,4] Based on its bad effect on human
health comfortable, the most population in the urban
areas are forced to change their residence places far
from the noisy sources to another silent secondary
roads.[5] Environmental noise pollution differs from
other types of pollution categories, such as occupational
noise exposure, because it has a large number of sources
inside each community, in addition to its wide adverse
effects on public health, environment, and quality-of-
life in general.[3] Several studies revealed that there has
been a considerable increase in the environmental noise
pollution levels emitted from the anthropogenic sources,
particularly the traffic activity.[6-8] Traffic noise pollution
is mainly related to engine noise and/or rolling noise
caused by the friction of tires on the road surface.[9]
Other researches have been conducted in several cities
of the world to study the bad effects of environmental
noise pollution on the human’s health, comfort, and
welfare.[10-12] It was concluded that, excessive exposure
to environmental noise during day-time is associated
with annoyance and reduced quality-of-life (headache,
dizziness, and fatigue) or direct hearing loss and/or
hearing impairment.[13,14] In addition, noise annoyance
produces a variety of negative emotional attitudes
including anger, disappointment, unhappiness, anxiety,
and even depression.[15-17] Cardiovascular diseases were
also linked with exposure to high levels of environmental
noise pollution.[18]
University of Dammam (UD) is located in Dammam City,
the Eastern Province Capital of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. It lies near Dammam seaport and is surrounded
from the north by Saudi Naval Institute, from the east by
new buildings of UD and the main coastal road and from
the south by Al-Rakha District. The residential campus
of UD is located at the North West side. The total area of
the UD Campus is 525 Ha. Inside the Campus, there are
several colleges and other buildings for the educational,
Saudi Journal of Medicine & Medical Sciences | Vol. 2 | Issue 3 | December 2014
social, and administrative services. The UD campus
receives daily more than 2000 cars for students and more
than 1000 cars for staff and employees.[19]
No previous studies have been conducted to investigate
levels of noise pollution inside universities campus in
Saudi Arabia. The main aim of this study is the assessment
of noise pollution level inside the UD campus. This study
is considered as an initial and indicator for other similar
universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Sites of measurements
Three different types of locations were selected for
measuring noise levels during this study; outside walls
(outside the campus itself), the internal streets (campus
roads) and inside several buildings of the UD campus.
The outside locations included the main coastal traffic
road and other branched traffic roads. The internal
streets included all main streets, such as the main
gate, and some of the branched streets. The buildings
included educational (such as college buildings),
administrative (such as the main administrative
building of the campus) and services buildings (such
as library and restaurant).
Sampling method
Levels of noise intensity were measured by the Bruel
and Kjaer Hand-held Analyzer, Type 2250 Sound Level
Meter (SLM).[20] This SLM has the ability to measure
instantaneously the following values; the now live and
fast LAF (which represents the now live noise level, in
which, a reading every 5 s is automatically recorded),
LAFmax and LAFmin (which represent the maximum
and minimum noise levels during the overall period of
measurement), and the equivalent continuous level LAeq
(which represents the measured value which needs to be
averaged over a period of time for all LAF readings. We
consider the LAeq values in our study. The start-up time
of this SLM depends on the state the instrument was in
when last switched off and it may take up to 2 min from
a cold start, or up to 10 s if the instrument is already in
standby mode, (i.e., from a warm start).
At each selected location, the instrument was operated
continuously for 1 min as a start-up time, and for a
continuous measuring period of 10-15 min during which
several readings of noise were automatically recorded
and saved. At the end of this period, the lowest and
highest levels in addition to the weighted value (LAeq)
were considered as the net results.
179
 El-Sharkawy and Alsubaie: Noise pollution in the University of Dammam
The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to
determine whether there are any significant differences
between the means with regards to levels of noise
measured in this study. As it has been used largely,
P < 0.05 will be considered statistically significant.
Sampling duration
Levels of the environmental noise pollution were measured
at three different periods of the academic year 2011-2012
to study the effect of human and traffic activity inside the
UD campus. The first one was the “study period” during
the five academic studying days (Saturday-Wednesday).
This period is characterized by the maximum educational,
administrative and other student activities. During
this period, two different times were selected for noise
measurements; at the morning rush hour (7.00-8.00 am)
and an afternoon hour (1.00-2.00 pm). The second period
was the “final exam period” during which, measurements
of noise were conducted at the first exam hour (8.00-
9.00 am). This period is characterized by relatively low
activity inside the university because most or all students
are present inside the exam rooms. The third period was
the “holiday period” which included two main holidays,
the midterm and summer holidays. During this period, it
is known that most activities inside the university campus
are inhibited or completely stopped.
RESULTS
Levels of noise pollution inside university campuses vary
depending on several factors such as outside activity,
internal activity, period of the year, time of the day, and
others. Some of these factors were studied inside the UD
campus during the current study.
Outside activity
Campus of UD is surrounded by traffic roads from all
sides; one of them is considered the main coastal road with
Figure 1: Levels of environmental noise inside and outside University
of Dammam campus
180 Saudi Journal of Medicine & Medical Sciences | Vol. 2 | Issue 3 | December 2014
moderate and sometimes high traffic activity particularly
at the morning rush hour. Figure 1 represents levels of
the environmental noise pollution inside and outside the
campus of UD during the selected three periods of the
academic year. Mean levels of noise outside the campus
during the study, exam and holiday periods were 67.1,
64.1 and 62.1 dB, respectively, while those inside the
campus were 65.5, 63.1, and 55.6 dB, respectively.
Internal activity
Figure 2 shows mean levels of the environmental noise
at different locations inside the campus of UD itself and
outside its buildings. It is evident that the highest mean levels
were recorded at four locations; at the main gate (71.6 dB),
outside the main administrative building (68.3 dB), outside
the deanship of registration building (68.2 dB), and at the
side gate of the campus (68.0 dB). All of these locations
are characterized by the high traffic movement during most
of the academic day in addition to their proximity to the
outside roads compared with the other sites. Excluding the
outside traffic movement source from Figure 1, it is clear
that levels of the environmental noise inside the campus
were in accordance with the magnitude of the traffic activity
during each period (i.e. the highest mean level of noise was
found during the studying period, while the lowest level was
obtained during the holiday period).
Effect of human activity
During the current study, levels of indoor noise pollution
were measured inside all buildings of the UD campus that
included educational building (such as colleges), services
buildings (such as the central library and photocopy center)
and recreational buildings (such as restaurant). Inside
colleges, three locations were selected; one of them was
representing the main hall or entrance, while the other
two locations were representing two different educational
classrooms. In the other buildings (services and recreational),
two different locations were selected as measuring points for
Figure 2: Levels of environmental noise at different locations inside
University of Dammam campus
 El-Sharkawy and Alsubaie: Noise pollution in the University of Dammam
noise level. Figure 3 illustrates mean levels of noise inside
and outside the main eight buildings of the UD camp. Levels
of the indoor noise were nearly the same or very slightly
higher than those of the outdoor levels, which indicate that
the effect of human activity inside university buildings on
noise pollution can be neglected comparing with the outdoor
sources. The one-way ANOVA test [Table 1] indicated that,
there was no significant statistical differences (P > 0.05)
between the indoor and outdoor noise levels.
DISCUSSION
As shown in Figure 1, it is obvious that levels of noise
pollution outside the UD campus were slightly higher
than those inside the campus walls during the three
studied periods. This indicates that location of the UD
campus is greatly affected by the outdoor sources of
noise, particularly the traffic activity, in addition to its
effect by the internal human and traffic activity inside
the campus but with lower extent. This finding is in
accordance with several studies in different cities of the
world. For example, the study which had been conducted
for assessing noise levels in eight different districts across
Seoul, Korea, revealed that Leq, at the roadside over
all districts, averaged 61.4 dB.[7] In another study, the
day-time urban noise quality assessment was studied in
Kolhapur, an ancient city of India, for five critical zones
where its results indicated that the highest Leq of 72.25
dB was observed in the industrial, followed by 64.47 dB
in the commercial zone, 63.71 dB in the educational
zone, 53.26 dB in the recreational zone, and 42.84 dB
Figure 3: Levels of noise inside and outside different buildings of
University of Dammam campus
Table 1: One-way ANOVA (time activity)
(I) Period (J) Period Mean difference (I-J)
Academic Exam 4.3703
Holiday 12.3234
Exam Holiday 7.9531
ANOVA – Analysis of variance
Saudi Journal of Medicine & Medical Sciences | Vol. 2 | Issue 3 | December 2014
in the silence zone.[3] On the other hand, several studies
were carried out to study the effect of high noise levels
on people’s health and welfare. One of these studies had
been achieved to evaluate the noise pollution problem
in the Varanasi city in India and study its effect on the
exposed people. This study revealed the fact that noise
levels have reached an alarming level and 85% of the
people were disturbed by traffic noise, while about 90%
of the people reported that traffic noise is the main
cause of headache, high blood pressure (BP) problem,
dizziness, and fatigue.[4]
The Source-Path-Receiver framework sketched in
Figure 4 is central to all environmental noise studies.
Each transit source generates close-by noise levels
which depend upon the type of source and its operating
characteristics. Then, along the propagation path
between all sources and receivers, noise levels are reduced
(attenuated) by distance, intervening obstacles, and other
factors. Finally at each receiver, noise combines from all
sources to interfere, perhaps, with receiver activities.[21]
The one-way ANOVA test [Table 1] indicated that, there
were strong significant statistical differences (P < 0.01)
between noise levels during the three periods of study,
while levels of noise during two different durations of
the academic studying day (morning and afternoon)
were nearly the same with no significant difference
(P > 0.05) as shown in Figure 5. On the other hand,
statistical comparison of results in relation to the site
activity [Table 2] indicated that there was no significant
difference (P > 0.05) between results of outside and
inside the UD campus from one side or between results
of outside and inside its buildings from the other side,
while there was a strong significant statistical differences
(P < 0.01) between noise levels of outside the campus
itself and inside its buildings. All of these data confirm
that traffic activity is considered the main source of noise
pollution inside the UD campus.
Figure 4: Noise source path receiver concept
95% confidence interval
Standard error Significance
Lower bound Upper bound
1.6553 0.009 1.091 7.649
1.5276 0.000 9.298 15.349
1.9552 0.000 4.080 11.826
181
 El-Sharkawy and Alsubaie: Noise pollution in the University of Dammam
The most human activity within the camp of any university
is the educational process and the accompanying
services, such as administrative, recreational, cleaning,
maintenance, and other services. In spite of the presence
of these services within each university buildings, its
size and magnitude varies from one building to another,
depending on the nature of the educational process
itself. For example, human activity inside the practical
colleges is generally higher than inside the theoretical
colleges because of the presence of labs equipped with
several types of instruments and presence of students
and technicians for a long time inside these labs. Even
in colleges with similar type, the size of human activity
varies depending on the size of the college and the number
of students, faculty members and workers. All of these
factors considerably affect the level of noise inside the
building itself, particularly in classrooms during lessons
or exams. To confirm this fact, a statistical test (one-way
ANOVA) was conducted to compare between mean noise
levels inside different classrooms of three colleges with
different activity, two of them are considered practical
colleges (College of Applied Medical Sciences, CAMS and
College of Medicine, CM), while the third is considered a
Figure 5: Levels of environmental noise at different duration of the day
inside University of Dammam campus
Table 2: One-way ANOVA (site activity)
(I) Measuring point (J) Measuring point Mean difference (I-J)
Outside campus Inside campus 4.9771
Inside building 8.0171
Inside campus Inside building 3.0400
ANOVA – Analysis of variance
Table 3: One-way ANOVA (college with its classrooms activity)
(I) Measuring point (J) Measuring point Mean difference (I-J) Standard error Significance
CAMS CM 6.8000
CCSs 18.4500
ANOVA – Analysis of variance; CAMS – College of applied medical Sciences; CM – College of medicine; CCSs – College of community services
182 Saudi Journal of Medicine & Medical Sciences | Vol. 2 | Issue 3 | December 2014
theoretical one (College of Community Services). Results
of this test are illustrated in Table 3, in which, it is clear
that there was significant statistical differences (P < 0.05)
between the practical and theoretical colleges, while there
was no significant difference (P > 0.05) between the
practical colleges themselves.
Acceptable limits for noise pollution
Acceptable limits for noise should be consistent
with the environmental noise climate that currently
exists at a location such that an adverse impact on
the environment and affected property are avoided,
and simultaneously maintain a reasonable balance
with physical development and/or activities. Under
normal circumstances, these sound levels shall apply
to outdoor locations at the real property boundary of
the receiver (typically residential areas, or other noise
sensitive area). This shall include assessment of sound
levels from road traffic, railways, and other noise
source(s).[22] When multiple adverse health effects are
identified for a given environment, the guideline values
are set at the level of the lowest adverse health effect
(the critical health effect). An adverse health effect of
noise refers to any temporary or long-term deterioration
in physical, psychological or social functioning that is
associated with noise exposure. The guideline values
represent the sound pressure levels that affect the most
exposed receiver in the listed environment. For school
and university environment, the critical of noise are
on speech interference, disturbance of information
extraction (e.g., comprehension and reading
acquisition), message communication and annoyance.
To be able to hear and understand spoken messages
in classrooms, the background sound pressure level
should not exceed 35 dB LAeq during teaching
sessions. For outdoor environment (e.g., playground),
the sound pressure level of the noise from external
95% confidence interval
Standard error Significance
Lower bound Upper bound
2.5966 0.058 –0.166 10.120
2.9064 0.007 2.260 13.774
1.8214 0.098 –0.568 6.648
95% confidence interval
Lower bound Upper bound
7.2386 0.370 −9.329 22.929
7.2386 0.029 2.321 34.579
 El-Sharkawy and Alsubaie: Noise pollution in the University of Dammam
sources should not exceed 55 dB LAeq, the same value
given for outdoor residential areas in day-time.[23]
The mean level of noise outside walls of the UD
campus was 64.4 dB, while inside the campus itself,
the mean level was 61.4 dB. Both of the two values
are higher than the outdoor guideline value (55 dB).
On the other hand, the indoor levels of noise ranged
from 54.9 dB inside the Community Service College
building to 60.7 dB inside the Architecture College
building. All of these levels are also much higher
than the indoor guideline value (35 dB). This means
that occupants of UD may be badly affected due
to their long-term exposure to these high levels of
environmental noise. Environmental noise can produce
negative effects on people’s health since it interferes
with basic activities such as sleeping, resting, studying
and communicating. In addition, chronic noise
exposure may cause longer-term activation of several
predictable physiological responses such as increased
heart rate, BP, and endocrine outputs. These effects
depend not only on the physical characteristics of the
noise itself, but also on parameters associated to each
person and each environment. It is thus important to
study noise pollution from a quantitative point of view
as well as a from the point of view of the annoyance
that it produces in the population. [24-26]
CONCLUSION
Location of any university campus is a crucial factor
in the noise pollution level inside each campus. Traffic
movement inside the UD campus is the main source
of the high environmental noise pollution levels,
both inside, and outside buildings of the campus.
All levels of noise inside the campus were higher
than the recommended guidelines, which mean that
all occupants of UD are exposed to the bad effects
of noise pollution. Avoiding this problem requires
the right selection of new university campuses and
transferring all car parks outside the campus where
internal buses can transport the staff and students
to their places inside the campus. In addition, the
university administration should recognize its role as
an environmentally responsible organization and is
committed to promoting environmental awareness for
all students and staff.
REFERENCES
1. Pirrera S, De Valck E, Cluydts R. Nocturnal road traffic noise:
A review on its assessment and consequences on sleep and health.
Environ Int 2010;36:492-8.
Saudi Journal of Medicine & Medical Sciences | Vol. 2 | Issue 3 | December 2014
2. World Health Organization (WHO). Indoor Environment: Health
Aspects of Air Quality, Thermal Environment, Light and Noise.
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 El-Sharkawy and Alsubaie: Noise pollution in the University of Dammam

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How to cite this article: El-Sharkawy MF, Alsubaie A. Study
of environmental noise pollution in the university of dammam
campus. Saudi J Med M! ed Sci 2014;2:178-84.
Source of Support: Nil. Conflict of Interest: None declared.

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184 Saudi Journal of Medicine & Medical Sciences | Vol. 2 | Issue 3 | December 2014

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