THE ACOUSTIC CONTAMINATION OF SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT DUE TO URBAN NOISES IN THE FEDERAL DISTRICT, BRASIL

Abstract

Urban noises are more and more presents in our daily life, invading residences, work places, leisure locations, hospitals and schools, becoming a potential harm to social interaction, communication, behavior, school performance, health etc. The main objective of this work was to analyze and quantify the environmental noise in ten schools of the basic education in District Federal, Brazil. The adopted parameter was the equivalent sound pressure level Leq (A), which was evaluated according to the sound level measures following the standard established by Brazilian Association of echnical Regulations (ABNT). The background noise was measured during holidays and during regular class periods. The study detected that half of the schools researched are being “contaminated” with noise from aircraft, road traffic, trucks, advertising vehicles, motorcycles, buses among other sources, with limits outside the recommended by law. In 90% of the evaluated schools, the noise levels observed during the activities are above of the maximum values recommended for the acoustic comfort of a school. These are buildings ill-located in the city and therefore “exposed” to levels that are above of recommended by the norms. The results show a critical situation indicating the urgent need of actions with the objective of mitigating this severe type of pollution.