Nature sounds for the win: Influencing the Pleasantness Perception of PICU Soundscapes

Abstract

The intensive care environment can be acoustically hostile. This study explored to what extent eventful and uneventful soundscapes in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) can be influenced to become more pleasant. We collected two raw recordings of the PICU soundscapes to represent an eventful and uneventful soundscape. Separately, we defined two sound samples (musical and natural) to be pleasant: Mozart -Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-Flat Major, K. 595 and a nature sound sample with birdsong. Pleasant sound samples were used as design interventions to be overlayed to raw PICU recordings. Participants rated the pleasantness of raw PICU soundscapes on a scale of 1 -10 with or without the intervention (music and nature sounds). The results showed an overall increased pleasantness with the addition of the nature sounds to both the eventful and uneventful PICU soundscapes. Yet, the improved soundscapes were rated relatively pleasant. We also ran a qualitative study to further understand what makes PICU soundscapes pleasant. The pleasant sound intervention with nature sounds is recommended only for uneventful PICU moments. We also offer strategies to introduce human-centered and contextual sound-driven solutions.