Showing papers by "Erica E. Ryherd published in 2013"

Achieving a healthy sound environment in hospitals

Abstract: A large number of studies show that hospitals are unacceptably noisy Up to date no stud y has measured noise levels in intensive care units or neonatal wards that comply with the WHO recommendations Furthermore, sound levels in hospitals have risen since the 1960s The noise origins mainly from: (1) operational activities generated by the staff in their care giving activities and communication, (2) medical equipment and alarms and (3) structural sounds from the building such as ventilation and closing doors While some sounds are unavoidable, many are totally or partially unnecessary Noise in hospitals has been suggested to increase the risk for cardiovascular response, pain, intensive care delirium, fragmented sleep and reduced recuperation For patients, the cause of these outcomes is multi-factorial, however the impact of the sound environment can, as opposed to most other factors, be abated For the personnel, noise may cause annoyance, stress, tiredness and lead to more errors however these outcomes are less well investigated The paper will give a summary of what is known today, specifically focusing on the outcomes from intervention studies of the physical environment and point to the most important areas for further improvements in research

Linking acoustics and floor-plate shape qualities of healthcare settings

Abstract: Nurses do not always have visual access to their patients in hospital corridors. During these times, lack of proper monitoring of auditory cues can potentially delay nurse response time and disable early detection of complications. Particular acoustic characteristics of hospital sound environments such as reverberation time can be highly detrimental to nurses’ sound-based task performance. In previous studies, the effects of surface materials on temporal characteristics of reverberant corridor sound environments have been studied. However, little is known about the relationship between floor-plate shapes and temporal characteristics of reverberant corridor sound environments. The main goal of this study was to statistically examine the relationship between floor-plate shape and temporal characteristics of reverberant sound environments in inter-connected nursing unit corridors by conducting floor-plate shape analysis, acoustic simulation studies and field measurements. Overall, the findings suggest the po...