Introduction: Pregnancy is not a disease, it is a normal part of a woman's life. A lot of women work during pregnancy. If the work environment includes certain harmful factors, such as noise, a pregnant employee must be suitably protected. Purpose: The purpose of the diploma thesis is to examine the impact of noise on pregnant women and their foetuses, ascertain the level of awareness regarding the harmful effects of noise among the pregnant women working in such environments, as well as present their experience of working in this kind of environment. Methods: We used a descriptive and causal non-experimental method of empirical research, which is based on the qualitative research approach. The relevant literature was searched for by means of the following key words: pregnancy, work during pregnancy, noise, harmful effects of noise, foetus development, foetal hearing and noise hazard. We conducted searches in the following data bases: Science Direct, Cinahl, PubMed, Medline, Wiley Online Library, COBISS.SI and Google Scholar. The case study includes four women who were working in a noisy environment while pregnant. We gathered the information through interviews, which included 11 open-ended questions. The answers were processed by means of qualitative content analysis. Results: We discovered that the pregnant women who were interviewed did not find the noisy environment stressful. They were partially familiar with the Rules on the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to noise at work and the Employment Relationship Act. During their pregnancy, the employer did not provide additional protection for them. The noise did not affect them any differently during pregnancy. The respondents were familiar with some of the possible harmful effects of a noisy environment on the foetus, but observed no deterioration in their own wellbeing. One of the respondents did notice increased movement of the foetus when she was exposed to noise. All four respondents stated they did not worry about any negative effects on their foetuses. Discussion and conclusion: One of the more important factors affecting health and working ability is noise. It is important for pregnant women and their employers to be well informed about the harmful effects a noisy environment can have on a pregnant woman and her foetus. Only by doing so can they be protected appropriately. Health care and prevention implementation play a key role in this process. Our research has shown that women are not completely familiar with the harmful effects of a noisy working environment. This could be changed by informing women about the negative effects of noise at the very start of their pregnancy.
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