The effects of acoustical refurbishment of classrooms on teachers' perceived noise exposure and noise-related health symptoms.

Objectives: To investigate whether acoustical refurbishment of classrooms for elementary and lower secondary grade pupils affected teachers' perceived noise exposure during teaching and noise-related health symptoms.

Methods: Two schools (A and B) with a total of 102 teachers were subjected to an acoustical intervention. Accordingly, 36 classrooms (20 and 16 in school A and school B, respectively) were acoustically refurbished and 31 classrooms (16 and 15 in school A and school B, respectively) were not changed.