Linking acoustics and floor-plate shape qualities of healthcare settings

Abstract

Nurses do not always have visual access to their patients in hospital corridors. During these times, lack of proper monitoring of auditory cues can potentially delay nurse response time and disable early detection of complications. Particular acoustic characteristics of hospital sound environments such as reverberation time can be highly detrimental to nurses' sound-based task performance. In previous studies, the effects of surface materials on temporal characteristics of reverberant corridor sound environments have been studied. However, little is known about the relationship between floor-plate shapes and temporal characteristics of reverberant corridor sound environments. The main goal of this study was to statistically examine the relationship between floor-plate shape and temporal characteristics of reverberant sound environments in inter-connected nursing unit corridors by conducting floor-plate shape analysis, acoustic simulation studies and field measurements. Overall, the findings suggest the potential effectiveness of acoustic simulation programs in predicting the temporal characteristics of reverberant sound environments in inter-connected hospital corridors. Based on the acoustic simulation analysis, reverberation time was significantly correlated with two floor-plate shape metrics: visual fragmentation and relative grid distance.

Acoustic assessment of speech privacy curtains in two nursing units

“…A hospital's acoustic characteristics play a critical role in how quickly a nurse hears an acoustic cue — An alarm, a patient's voice — And accurately place it so that the nurse knows exactly where to go to address the need. [ 16 ] The figures visually depicting the audibility of bedside medical alarms shows that for most conditions, alarm systems near patients are not clearly audible above background noise outside of the patient room. This means that alarms may be active for longer periods of time before the staff hear and respond.…”

“…The increased reverberation time would result in nurses’ reduced ability to accurately locate a sound source. [ 16 ]…”

“…To improve the speech privacy for patients, more fragmented nursing unit floor-plate shapes could be created in conjunction with the use of remote calls and monitoring. [ 16 ]…”

Influence of architectural layouts on noise levels in Danish emergency departments

“…In an attempt to understand which noise sources could potentially be avoided and which range of noise levels is realistically achievable with current state-of-the-art technologies, we aim to conduct analyses of individual activities and work patterns in connection to the architectural design of hospitals, thus gaining insight into which noise sources could be controlled without compromising the quality of patient care. To the best of the authors' knowledge, only a few studies have correlated objective acoustics parameters and architectural layouts in hospitals [16][17][18]. Particularly Ocku et al…”

“…tried to link the floor layout designs to the reverberation times [18], but did not look into a correlation with noise metrics.…”