Environmental noise levels in hospital settings : a rapid review of measurement techniques and implementation in hospital settings

Wallis, R, Harris, E, Lee, H, Davies, WJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5835-7489 and Astin, F 2020, 'Environmental noise levels in hospital settings : a rapid review of measurement techniques and implementation in hospital settings' , Noise and Health, 21 (102) , pp. 200-216.

Preview	PDF - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike 4.0. Download (121kB) | Preview
	PDF - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (507kB)

Abstract

Background: Hospitals provide treatment to improve patient health and well-being but the characteristics of the care environment receive little attention. Excessive noise at night has a negative impact on in-patient health through disturbed sleep. To address this hospital staff must measure night-time environmental noise levels. Therefore, an understanding of environmental noise measurement techniques is required. In this review, we aim to 1) provide a technical overview of factors to consider when measuring environmental noise in hospital settings; 2) conduct a rapid review on the equipment and approaches used to objectively measured noise in hospitals and identify methodological limitations. Design: A rapid review of original research articles, from 3 databases, published since 2008. Studies were included if noise levels were objectively measured in a hospital setting where patients were receiving treatment. Results: 1429 articles were identified with 76 included in the review. There was significant variability in the approaches used to measure environmental noise in hospitals. Only 14.5% of studies contained sufficient information to support replication of the measurement process. Most studies measured noise levels using a sound level meter positioned closed to a patient’s bed area in an intensive care unit. Conclusion: Unwanted environmental noise in hospital setting impacts negatively on patient and staff health and well-being. However, this literature review found that the approaches used to objectively measure noise level in hospital settings have been inconsistent and poorly reported. Recommendations on best-practice methods to measure noise levels in hospital environments are provided.

Item Type:	Article
Schools:	Schools > School of Computing, Science and Engineering > Salford Innovation Research Centre
Journal or Publication Title:	Noise and Health
Publisher:	Medknow Publications
ISSN:	1463-1741
Related URLs:	Publication
Depositing User:	W. J. Davies
Date Deposited:	23 Jun 2020 13:01
Last Modified:	16 Feb 2022 04:57
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/57424

Actions (login required)

Edit record (repository staff only)