During recent years, there was become a growing awareness of the hospital landscape and ways we can improve this environment for the benefit of patients and staff.
One notable element is noise pollution within hospitals, within the past five decades, noise levels have grown steadily internationally, according to John Hopkins University. This could be attributed to the technological advancements that have occurred within medicine or the design of hospitals. Many studies have addressed the strain of noise affecting the mental wellbeing of staff, but there is a lack of scientific research behind the effect of hospital noise.
Some studies have indicated a varied amount of risks towards patients and staff regarding high noise levels; including: risk of medical errors, lapses in short term memory, sleep disturbance, elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, lack of speech privacy etc. All of these factors can hinder patient care and treatment, as without a lack of sleep or increased heart rate, can lead to further hospital re-admissions. A study by Grossman et al found that patients reported that staff conversations, medical alarms and ICU noise contributed to disruptive sleep of which 15% from staff conversations, 25% from medical alarms and 26% from ICU noise. This illustrates the need for consideration over noise pollution in hospitals.
As someone who has visited hospitals many times as a patient and a carer, I find noise pollution can be significantly damaging psychologically, as the sharp and sudden noises often surpass auditory thresholds. From these discussions, I aim to re-interpret the hospital soundscape, in order to create a raw and visceral auditory experience of being in a hospital.
Based on these discussions and studies into the impact of noise pollution, recent research has been conducted in examining ways to reduce the high levels of noise. Many of these inquiries have involved collaborations with acoustic experts and architects, in order to design spaces that either absorb, block or cover sound. Some of these examples include acoustic masking to cover the noise with ambient sound, behaviour modification to instruct staff to speak at lower volumes or smaller scale changes like wearing soft-soled shoes, providing ear buds or turning off unnecessary alarms. Some larger scale discussions have involved creating single patient rooms; however, I would argue that under the current resource strains of the NHS, this seems slightly over-ambitious, particularly under the current COVID 19 pandemic.
One solution that is currently in place is the concept of sound masking, Finland’s New Children’s Hospital was built last year with the plan to implement a fully networked soundscape throughout the hospital. The soundscape was designed to have different themes for each of the eight floors, that is based on the natural world. The soundscape is designed to be generative, in order to limit any ear fatigue, and through using a network already in place within the hospital it has proven to be more cost effects and no requirement for audio cables. The placement of the speakers was also considered, so that they wouldn’t disturb patient of staffs’ spaces, like operating rooms or nurses’ workstations. Overall, this proves the future possibilities of other hospitals to reduce noise pollution through the concept of acoustic masking. The hospital won the soundscape design award for the Grand Prix in Soundscapes and Ambient Sound 2019, again proving the innovative design and solution for noise pollution within hospital environments.
Layout of Hospital Soundscape
Link to article about new Children's Hospital in Finland: https://www.psneurope.com/installation/new-childrens-hospital-soundscape-genelec