Acoustics Experimental Activity in a Wood Manufacturing Company Claudio Guarnaccia*, Tony LL Lenza°, Nikos E. Mastorakis + and Joseph Quartieri* * Department of Physics “E.R. Caianiello”, Faculty of Engineering ° Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering University of Salerno Via Ponte don Melillo, I-84084 Fisciano (SA) – ITALY cguarnaccia@unisa.it , lenza@unisa.it , quartieri@unisa.it + Technical University of Sofia, English Language Faculty of Engineering Industrial Engineering, Sofia 1000, Sofia BULGARIA http://www.wseas.org/mastorakis Abstract: - A wood manufacturing company is characterized by high sound pressure levels during the production activity. Workers are often obliged to work very close to noisy machineries and areas in which the noise dose can cause permanent damages to hearing apparatus and can affect cardio circulator system or nervous system. In the present case study, the workers operate in an industrial environment with several noise sources, operating alone or in parallel, depending on the productive phase. An acoustical experimental campaign is needed to evaluate the single source emission and to understand if the worker shifts comply with the noise threshold fixed by regulation. Thus, the authors performed noise measurements in specific windows out of work time, with each noise source operating alone, in order to have the single source noise emission. Additional measurements have been taken during normal work time, in order to obtain the daily and/or weekly exposure level. The single source emission spectrum is considered and proposed as a kind of acoustical "finger print" for each machinery, in order to implement a frequency based control tool. Key-Words: - Noise Control, Acoustical Dose, Source Characterization, Emission Spectrum. 1 Introduction One of the most important problem to be faced in environment impact analysis and in occupational health is the acoustical noise control. Noise, in fact, is one of the “polluting” agent that must be considered in areas in which human activities are performed, together with air quality, electromagnetic fields, natural radioactivity, climatic factors, etc.. In [1] the authors presented an environmental quality index, in which the impact of several agents has been analysed and included in a synthetic composite index. Regarding acoustical noise, transportation infrastructures and industrial areas represent the most relevant sources in urban or sub urban environments, while in closed areas, especially in working places, the main sources are usually related to anthropic activities and to services systems and plants. The effects of noise on human life has been investigated and several studies can be found in literature. For instance, exposure to transport noise may disturb sleep quality (see for instance [2]). In general, noise interferes in complex task performance, modifies social behaviour and causes annoyance. Studies of occupational and environmental noise exposure suggest an association with hypertension, raised catecholamine secretion, reading comprehension and long-term memory impairment, etc.. The importance of noise control, therefore, is evident, especially in the domain of occupational activities. In [3], the World Health Organization (WHO) describes how to quantify the burden of disease associated with hearing impairment from occupational noise, while in [4] it reports an assessment of the global disease burden from occupational noise, as part of a larger initiative to assess the impact of 25 risk factors in a standardized manner. Usually, local governments issue particular regulations on occupational noise, according to international guidelines, that fix the exposure Latest Advances in Acoustics and Music ISBN: 978-1-61804-096-1 236