Comparison of the effect of earmuffs and hocks on aggression of stone workers

Introduction: Aggression is a very complex concept which is both influenced by psychological factors and genetic, biological and environmental factors. Noise pollution is a major factor influencing human behavior. Objective: Therefore, this study compared the effect of earmuffs and hocks on aggression of stone cutting factory workers. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 60 healthy male workers of all stone cutting factories in Gonabad were selected by simple random sampling and assigned to two groups of 30 people who used earmuffs and hocks for a month. Aggressive behavior was measured by using Buss-Perry aggression questionnaire before and after intervention. Data was analyzed by using pairwise and independent t-test using statistical analysis software, SPSS, version 19 (p 0.05). Results: No significant difference was found in demographic characteristics between the two groups of workers (p 0.05);however, the difference in pre-test and post-test mean scores of aggression and physical, verbal, anger and hostility between both groups showed that all these variables significantly decreased in the hock group compared to the earmuffs group (p 0.05). Discussion: This study found that aggression regardless of the wide range of factors associated could be reduced in stone workers exposed to a relatively high noise by using hocks rather than earmuffs. Conclusion: Hock reduces aggression and its components in stone workers more than earmuffs. Thus,hocks are recommended in factories which suffer from noise pollution.