An overview on the impact of nursing homes' acoustic characteristics on the elderly's quality of life

Abstract

The primary motivation for this study is that the acoustical features of elderly care facilities are frequently neglected. According to the centers for disease control and prevention, around 1.5 million senior individuals are in nursing homes in the USA in 2021. Some have a lower quality of life (QOL) due to health care concerns, social issues, and the home environmental issues. This paper intends to study the current investigations on the environmental issues and specifically acoustical issues around these types of facilities. Since hearing loss is a common chronic illness among the elderly, the acoustical issues will result in stronger impacts, e.g., making it difficult to communicate with staff and other elderly. In return, improving the quality of the indoor acoustic environment can help alleviate the physical weakness of hearing loss, which directly impacts their QOL. Similarly, some of the other chronic illnesses can be alleviated by improving nursing home’s acoustics quality, which can also result in an enhanced elderly's QOL. This study will provide a comprehensive overview by analyzing the methodology and results of the most relevant studies in this regard and making meaningful comparisons. This research aims to achieve an efficient research method for this type of study.