A Comparative Study of Acoustic Regulations for Hospital Bedrooms in Selected Countries in Europe

Abstract

Regulatory acoustic requirements for hospitals exist in several countries in Europe, but many countries have either no or few regulatory limits or only recommendations. The purpose of limit values is to ensure optimal acoustic conditions for the patients under treatment and for the personnel for the various tasks taking place in many different rooms, e.g., bedrooms, examination and treatment rooms, corridors, stairwells, waiting and reception areas, canteens, offices, all with different acoustic needs. In addition, some rooms require special considerations such as psychiatric rooms and noisy MR-scanning rooms. The extent of limit values varies considerably between countries. Some specify few, others specify several criteria. The findings from a comparative study carried out by the authors in selected countries in various geographical parts of Europe show a diversity of acoustic descriptors and limit values. This paper includes updated criteria for reverberation time, airborne and impact sound insulation, noise from traffic and from service equipment for hospital bedrooms. The discrepancies between countries are discussed, aiming at potential learning and implementation of improved limits. In addition to regulations or guidelines, some countries have hospitals included in national acoustic classification schemes with different acoustic quality levels. Indications of such class criteria are included in the paper.

A survey methodology for noise in hospital wards

“…The greatest attention should be paid to the design of environments intended for vulnerable users, such as children, the elderly, and those who are ill or hospitalized; particularly for patients, acoustics is a key parameter, as well as all environmental parameters, which is able to directly influence the healing process [3,4]. Regulatory references on hospital room acoustics in different countries are varied [5]. In Italy, the Ministerial Decree DM 23/06/2022 "Minimum Environmental Criteria for the award of design services and works for the new construction, renovation, and maintenance of public buildings" [6] indicates acoustic comfort as a mandatory condition to be verified for public buildings, including hospitals.…”

Analysis of early-design timber models for sound insulation

“…Key parameters indicating the level of protection against noise are airborne sound insulation (for walls and ceilings) and impact sound level (for slabs). In the early-design phase, both airborne and impact sound insulation are calculated according to ISO 12354-1 [11] to meet national requirements of the different European countries [48,49,50,51,52]. This paper uses the German standards [53,54], but the procedure is similar for other countries.…”

Analysis of bedroom distribution layouts to improve acoustic comfort in hospital wards

“…[1][2][3][4]. For this reason, regulations in many European countries specify limit values for normalized sound insulation or apparent Sound Reduction Index between bedrooms and corridors; according to [5], requirements of sound insulation between corridors and bedrooms vary especially from 27 dB (France) to 38 dB (Turkey). These insulation values are justified by the need to protect rooms from noise, but since doors between rooms and corridors are frequently kept open or half-closed, achieving these values is very difficult.…”