Surgery Sounds and Patient Emotions: The Impact of Sounds on the Emotional Experience of Patients in Operating Rooms

Abstract

Orthopedic surgeries are identified as one of the noisiest operations in the OR (operating room). Sounds of patient monitoring and support devices, conversations, and surgical tools contribute to the complex acoustic environment. Certain orthopedic surgeries require spinal anesthesia, making patients half awake and exposed to surgical sounds. Therefore, the emotional experience of patients toward OR sounds requires more attention, especially considering the different phases of the surgery (pre-operative, operative, and postoperative). This study aims to discover the connections between sounds and the difference in the emotional experience of orthopedic OR patients. In this paper, a questionnaire-based study with a forced choice was conducted employing a Chi-Square analysis of the data. Patients (n=64) with different levels of anesthesia were asked to remember which sounds they heard and what emotions they experienced by picking one or more from the available set of emotional experiences. The results suggest that emotions like nervous, curious, and relaxed are likely to be influenced by the sound types, anesthesia types, and surgery phase. As a secondary aim of the study, the possibility of music as a design intervention to act as a sound-masking and relaxation is investigated.