Knowledge Wednesdays “Teacher health: what are the implications of noise in schools?”

Sofia Temam, a researcher at the Foundation, presented the results of her work on exposure to noise at work and its consequences on the health of teachers in France, based on data from the ESTER-CONSTANCES study, at the European Public Health Congress held in Dublin from November 8 to 11.

This study shows that teachers are particularly exposed to noise in the workplace. On average, one in three teachers report being exposed to noise at work (compared to one in ten employees in other professional sectors). Nearly one in two teachers in primary education report this exposure. Furthermore, the results suggest that this exposure to noise has negative effects on their perceived health and mental health. These initial results highlight the importance for teachers' health of taking into account short- and long-term exposure to this environmental factor, which is relatively underestimated in France, in public health prevention policies.