Evaluation of noise pollution in restaurants of Duhok City, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract EN

The indoor and outdoor noise levels were measured in six of Duhok city restaurants using two digital sound level meters.

The indoor noise level is higher than the outdoor noise level for Azaim, Safin, Shindokha and Malta restaurants, while for Dunya and Sarki restaurants there was alternation between them.

The correlation coefficient between the indoor and outdoor noise levels indicated that there were strong relationships between them.

Majority of indoor noise level was due to conversation between customers, music noise, air conditioning and ventilation noises, and kitchen noise, besides the bad design of the restaurants and the lack of sound absorption materials covering walls and ceils of restaurants.

It was concluded that the average noise levels for the selected restaurants are high.

They ranged between 68 dBA and 78 dBA that are higher than the permissible noise level of residential areas (55 dBA) which is the standard of World Health Organization (WHO).