SLAAP: Silencing Loud Alarms to Attenuate PTSD: Frequency- Selective Silencing Device for Digital Filtering of Alarm Sounds to Enhance ICU Patient Recovery

Abstract

Free-ield auditory medical alarms, although widely present in intensive care units, have created a number of hazards for both patients and clinicians in this environment. The harsh characteristics of the alarm noise proile combined the frequency at which they sound throughout the ICU have created discomfort for the patients and contribute to psychological problems, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and delirium. Thus, this frequency-selective silencing device seeks to atenuate these problems by removing the alarm sounds from the patient perspective. Patients do not need to hear these alarms as the alarms primarily serve to alert clinicians; therefore, this device, through the use of a Raspberry Pi and digital ilters, removes the alarm sounds present in the environment while passing all other sounds to the patient without distortion. This allows patients to hear everything occurring around them and to communicate efectively without experiencing the negative consequences of audible alarms.