The impact of non-auditory effects of harmful industrials noise on Meta-Cognitive and Cognitive factors

Background and Aim: Noisy environment causes disruption in conversation and comprehension, decreased brain activity, and incoherence of physical work. The reflection that man makes on his mental processes, and the thinking about thinking, is called metacognition. The present study examined a set of cognitive factors to assess the cognitive status of employees. Methods: This cross-sectional observational was performed on 1000 workers of the Isfahan steel industry. ISO9612 (2009) and the job-based standard was used to measure the sound pressure level. At the same time, the VELZ Metacognition Questionnaire (MCQ-3) was used to measure cognitive components. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software and Chi-square, independent t-test, and Fisher tests. Results: In the study of workers' metacognitive skills, there was no significant difference in the subscale of negative beliefs about thought control and risks related to anxiety between the case and control groups (p> 0.05). But the scores of subscales of positive beliefs about anxiety, cognitive uncertainty, need to control thoughts and metacognitive processes of cognitive self-awareness in the case group were significantly lower than the control group (p <0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that noise has significant and destructive effects on the metacognitive skills of steelworkers. Therefore, it is necessary to take the necessary measures to increase mental health and reduce the vulnerability of this segment of society.