Noise in the operating rooms of Johns Hopkins Hospital

Abstract

Very little reliable information exists on the sound levels present in an operating room environment. To remedy this situation, sound pressure levels of the operating rooms in Johns Hopkins Hospital were monitored before, during, and after operations. The data were analyzed to determine background sound levels, average equivalent sound levels L(eq), frequency distribution, and peak sound pressure levels L(peak). Each surgery was matched to the period of noise it produced permitting the association of sound levels with particular types of surgeries and the determination of various sound measures for classes of surgery (e.g., orthopedic, neurological, etc.). Averaging over many surgeries, orthopedic surgery was found to have the highest L(eq) at approximately 66 dB(A). Neurosurgery, urology, cardiology, and gastrointestinal surgery followed closely, ranging from 62 to 65 dB(A). By considering the L(peak) along with the L(eq) values, a pattern emerges for the various surgical divisions. Gastrointestinal and thoracic surgery are relatively quiet among the surgical divisions. Neurosurgery and orthopedics have sustained high sound levels. Cardiology surgery has a more moderate average sound level but includes brief periods of extremely high peak sound levels. For neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery, peak levels exceeded 100 dB over 40% of the time. The highest peak levels routinely seen during surgery were well in excess of 120 dB.

Noise pollution and its effects on medical care workers and patients in hospitals

“…The average sound levels measured in these hospitals during daytime were between 52.6 and 64.6 dB, a range similar to those previously reported by other works ( Bayo et al, 1995;Ann et al, 1996;Kracht et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2009 ). However, all of the sound levels measured in the hospitals in the present study were much higher than those suggested by USEPA (i.e., 45 dB during daytime).…”

“…Some researchers reported noise levels in the range of 100 dB to 110 dB from drills, saws and other equipment in operating room were found and this presents a significant risk for noise-induced hearing loss (Love, 2003;Nott and West, 2003). Kracht et al (2007) analyzed the noise in the operating rooms of Johns Hopkins hospital and found orthopedic surgery has the highest average equivalent sound level of approximately 66 dB (A). They also found neurosurgery, urology, cardiology and gastrointestinal surgery have the average equivalent sound levels ranging from 62 to 65 dB(A).…”

Characterizing Subjective Noisiness in Hospital Lobbies

“…3. A comparative cumulative frequency of the levels of LAeq at each 15-min interval over the daytime (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) and the nighttime (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) in the 16 surveyed hospital lobbies.…”

Sound of music—or is it noise in OR?

“…There however is a raging debate as to, is it a distraction with a potential for consequences for patient harm or does it calm a fidgety and timorous Bscalpel wielding hand?Ĉ urrently, most operations are becoming high tech with a lot of electronic gadgetry and their attendant alarms and clatter of moving parts. Further, most surgeries have a plethora of technicians involved, therefore adding to the rush of human personnels in the OR, all contributing to a clamorous caterwauling, which can exceed 120 decibels-louder than a busy highway [1]. Music thus can be construed as adding to this cacophony.…”