# Acoustic Environment and Noise Exposure in Fitness Halls
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Subjective Evaluation of IS & G Acoustics  
The questionnaire was filled out by 401 subjects visiting IS & G halls, none of whom suffered from hearing problems based on their own report. The group was divided into 210 men (52.4%) and 191 women (47.6%). The sample consisted of 137 instructors (34.2%) and 264 participants (trainees) (65.8%); the instructors' average working time in the gym was 4.0 h daily and the trainees' average time spent in the gym was 2.0 h daily. The instructors at IS & G halls delivered an average of three workout lessons per day, while spending 4 h on average at the gymasium; participants attended the gymasium for 2 h per day on average. Instructors spent an average of 24 h per week in fitness classes;  
Figure 10: Visualizations of sound pressure level using the 3D Smart Particle System: (**a**) visualization of the hall without acoustic treatment and (**b**) visualization of the hall when adding acoustic treatment (absorptive panels).  
Figure 9: Logarithmic energy time curve for the hall with acoustic treatment, with channel 0 for hall in unoccupied mode and channel 1 for occupied mode.  
in addition, 30% performed other work that involved noise exposure most of the time for an average of 27 h per week, thus extending their daily load and noise exposure.  
The results related to user satisfaction with the acoustic conditions in the IS & G halls are shown in Figure 11. As shown in the figure, the average rating of the parameters (listening conditions, reverberant sounds, music loudness, and background noise level) ranged from 2.74 to 3.35, which belongs to the fair rating. However, the figure shows that the overall acoustic environment in the fitness hall was comfortable (2.10). Regarding activity and ambient noise levels, Table 3 and Figures 4 and 5 clearly illustrate that the values exceeded the internationally recommended limits; however, this is not reflected in the subjective evaluation. These results correspond to a study conducted in Jordan of young adults' awareness of hearing problems [64]. The study has shown that 35.9% of subjects considered hearing loss as not a significant problem or no problem at all, and only 10% used earplugs to protect their ears from loud sounds. These results clearly indicate a lack of concern about hearing and hearing problems.  
When comparing the responses of instructors with those of participants, it can be noted that there is a significant difference in their evaluation of overall acoustical comfort (\(p<0.01\)); instructors tended to rate the acoustic environment as more fair (2.52), while participants rated it as comfortable (1.88). This could be related to the time each group spends in the gym, which is longer for instructors (4 h on average) than for participants (2 h on average), which exposes them to loud sounds for a longer time. The instructors consider loud music in the gym as a motivating factor during training sessions; however, the participants' opinion differs significantly (\(p<0.01\)), considering it to be a stress factor. In the remainder of the questions, there were no significant differences between the two groups (\(p>0.05\)), as shown in Table 7. A comparison between the answers of male and female subjects showed no significant differences in their responses.  
Figure 11: Results of questionnaire for all 401 subjects.