A Study on the Knowledge, Attitude and the Preventive Behavior of Noise of Workers Exposed to the Harmful Noise

일 소음작업장 근로자들의 소음에 대한 인식 및 태도, 예방행위에 관한 연구

This study was to investigate knowledge, attitude and the preventive behaviour of noise of workers exposed to harmful noise and to provide primary data for noise-exposed workers' hearing conservation and the prevention of noise induced hearing loss. Method: The subjects were 104 workers who participated voluntarily in the questionnaire. The instrument used in this study was knowledge, attitude and practice on noise-induced hearing loss tool by Rhee & Yi (1996). The data were collected from August to September, 2002 with a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS 10.0 win program for finding frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, and ANOVA. Results: The average age of workers was 35.9 and the current average year of working at the noise place was $5{\sim}$10 years. In the group of previous noise-exposed workers, they showed significant difference in preventive behaviors (t=4.087, p=.048). In the group of current noise-exposed workers, they showed significant difference in recognition and attitude of noise(F=4.707, p=.004). Also, the duration of wearing ear protection equipment(t=2.383, p=.019), the feeling of wearing ear protection equipment(F=3.602, p=.031) and comfortable sense of wearing ear protection (F=3.919, p=.023) was significant in the preventive behaviour of noise. Conclusion: Considering the results above, we can recognize that there are close relations among the knowledge, attitude and the preventive behaviour of noise. Therefore, it is necessary to develop education - programs for noise-exposed workers' better understanding of noise and preventive behaviors