Noise exposure in school gymnasia and swimming pools

School gymnasia and swimming pools are generally environments affected by poor acoustic conditions due to absence of sound absorbing materials, noisy sport activities, presence of many students at the same time and intensive use of blowing whistles to enforce the communication. The consequence is that physical education teachers can not only show long term stress but they can also be exposed to noise risk to noise-induced hearing loss. Investigation has shown that the problem is quite large; as many as 20–25% of physical education teachers can be affected by a noise exposure higher than acceptable limits. It is then necessary to analyze in detail all factors that can influence the noise in these special school environments in order to develop simple acoustical guidelines useful for school officials for stress management and hearing conservation programs.