Evaluation of Healthy Acoustic Environments in Industrial Buildings from the Workers’ Perspective: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Noise in industrial buildings affects workers’ productivity and can seriously impair their physical and mental health, yet existing studies often overlook workers’ subjective perceptions and rely on a single method. Therefore, this study recruited 263 workers from four industrial buildings in Beijing and adopted a mixed-methods approach. First, 30 semi-structured interviews were analyzed using grounded theory’s three-level coding procedure to construct a conceptual framework of a healthy acoustic environment and its influencing factors. Next, a 30-item subjective questionnaire was developed, and structural equation modeling was conducted on 256 valid responses. Finally, Spearman correlation analysis and multidimensional scaling were used to examine relationships between subjective evaluations and eight physical and psychoacoustic indicators. The results identified nine major dimensions, including Sound Source Localization, Physiological Effects at Work, and Regulatory Control, as well as 15 relational pathways. Compared with existing frameworks, Communication Barrier emerged as a more prominent dimension in industrial building contexts. Structural equation modeling confirmed that 12 pathways were statistically significant. Correlation analysis further showed that only a few objective–subjective associations were significant, indicating that objective acoustic indicators alone cannot explain workers’ multidimensional perceptions. In conclusion, this study developed an evaluation model for healthy acoustic environments in industrial buildings, highlighting the need to emphasize controllability, communication support, and integrated subjective–objective evaluation in acoustic design to better enhance workers’ well-being.