Levels Of Environmental Noise And Perceived Health Implications In Bus Termini In Nairobi Central Business District, Nairobi City County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Environmental noise is noise emanating from all other sources except the industrial workplace, main sources include road, rail and air traffic, industries, construction, public works and social activities. WHO and NEMA provides permissible environmental noise level standard to be 75 and 60 dB (A) respectively. Noise pollution has been linked to many adverse health effects and there is limited documentation to this effect within the CBD termini of Nairobi.The aim of this study was to assess noise levels and it’s perceived health effects across bus termini in Central Business District of Nairobi City. Using a cross-sectional study design and fishers et al (1983) to determine the sample size, a random sample of 422 community members working within nine bus termini for more than 8 hours a day were approached and recruited in the study. Noise levels were measured using Calibrated sound level meter (Model # 8926). A selfadministered semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data to identify perceived health risks of noise and safety practices across bus termini. Univariate Chisquare test of independence was used to test the association between noise levels and reported health implications. The response rate was 94.7% (n= 397). The study revealed that 66.8% of respondents (n=265) had awareness on effects of excessive noise exposure as compared to 33.2% (n=132).This study revealed that a higher proportion of respondents spending more than 3 days a week working at the bus termini visited the doctor for a perceived noise induced hearing problem. As such there was a significant association between the number of days spend working at the bus termini in a week and visiting a doctor for a noise induced hearing problem (χ2=16.52, df=2; p