Montréal, October 28, 2005 - The Institut de recherche
Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) has just published the
results of a study to provide daycare centre managers with the means to reduce
the noise on their premises. All daycare facility employees, educators,
pedagogical consultants, managers, food supervisors, support staff and the
thousands of children that they are responsible for are exposed daily to
sometimes excessive noise levels, which are a cause of fatigue and stress for
both young and old.
Reducing reverberation
Reducing the number of children
per room, choosing quieter activities and toys, installing tennis balls under
chair feet, and putting padded placemats on tables are all useful but limited
means that are already used by many daycare facilities. To respond to the
request from the Association paritaire pour la santé et la sécurité du travail
du secteur affaires sociales (ASSTSAS) and from the CSST which wanted to produce
a guide on noise reduction in daycare centres, the IRSST gave a mandate to a
firm specialized in acoustics and vibration, Soft dB Inc. This mandate involved
verifying the impact of a reduction in reverberation time on noise reduction and
of identifying effective and inexpensive solutions.
Appreciable reduction in the noise level
The
representatives of the firm measured the acoustical characteristics of 40 rooms
in some twenty establishments in Québec, and carried out dosimetric measurements
on daycare educators in order to determine the noise level to which they are
exposed. The firm identified potential solutions, such as the installation
of an acoustical ceiling and a strip of acoustical panels at the tops of the
walls, which were installed in 18 rooms of 9 daycare centres. These
solutions were then validated by a new series of measurements. Relatively
inexpensive and simple to apply, these treatments significantly reduced the
noise levels by 6 to 7 decibels, on average.
The data collected and the findings will be published in a practical guide
produced and distributed by ASSTSAS in collaboration with the CSST in the spring
of 2006. This guide will provide daycare centres with recommendations on how to
reduce noise on their premises.
Report R-435, Réduction du bruit dans les CPE par la réduction du temps de
réverbération : analyses et études de cas (Noise reduction in daycare centres by
reducing the reverberation time: analyses and case studies), is downloadable
free of charge from the IRSST's Web site : http://www.irsst.qc.ca/en/_publicationirsst_100201.html.
Printed versions of the report are also offered at a cost of $7.42.
