Find in Library

Introduction: Occupational noise exposure is one of the main risk factor that affects the health and sleeping pattern of the workers. Textile machines produce a high level of noise that can cause adverse health effects in workers. Aim: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of occupational noise exposure on sleep among the workers of textile industry. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 workers of textile industry located in the Savadkuh city, Iran. In this study, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and an author-developed questionnaire was used to collect the data. Eight-hour equivalent noise level was measured to assess worker’s noise exposure based on ISO 9612:2009. Data were examined by Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test, simple liner regression and stepwise multiple regression test. Results: The mean±SD of equivalent sound level, age and experience was 94±4.1 dB, 35±7.6 years and 10±6.2 years, respectively. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test showed that higher age and duration of work experience were significantly associated with sleep disturbance. The results of MannWhitney test showed that history of sedative drug use, marital status and use of Hearing Protective Devices (HPDs) were significantly associated with sleep disturbance. The mean sleep disturbance was significantly different between history of hypnotic drug use, marital status and HPDs. The stepwise multiple regression test showed that age, noise exposure, marital status, use of HPDs and history of sedative drug use could predict 87% of sleep changes. Conclusion: The results of the present study confirm that, among many factors affecting worker’s sleep, noise exposure plays an important role. It is suggested that the managers and the manufacturers should motivate the workers to use HPDs, thereby controlling the noise exposure and subsequently sleep disturbance in the workers.