Abstract
Eating-related challenges and discomforts arising from moderately acquired brain injuries (ABI)—including physiological and cognitive difficulties—can interfere with patients’ eating experience and impede the recovery process. At the same time, external environmental factors have been proven to be influential in our mealtime experience. This experimental pilot study investigates whether redesigning the sonic environment in hospital dining areas can positively influence ABI patients’ (n = 17) nutritional state and mealtime experience. Using a three-phase between-subjects interventional design, we investigate the effects of installing sound proofing materials and playing music during the lunch meals at a specialised ABI hospital unit. Comprising both quantitative and qualitative research approaches and data acquisition methods, this project provides multidisciplinary and holistic insights into the importance of attending to sound in hospital surroundings. Our results demonstrate that improved acoustics and music playback during lunch meals might improve the mealtime atmosphere, the patient well-being, and social interaction, which potentially supports patient food intake and nutritional state. The results are discussed in terms of potential future implications for the healthcare sector.
Highlights
Addressing disease-related malnutrition is urgent, and nutrition is key to addressing health and well-being and reducing healthcare costs [1,2]
Sound proofing materials installed in Phase 2 were chosen based on measurements at baseline, whereas the music playback equipment and volume level in Phase 3 was set according to the room acoustics data obtained from measurements in Phase 2
The overall sound pressure levels (SPL) increased slightly from Phase 2 to 3 with the playback of music, 0.47 DB(A) and 1.20 dB(C), the overall sound pressure level remained below the baseline values, once again confirming the measurable effect of the acoustic panels
Summary
Addressing disease-related malnutrition is urgent, and nutrition is key to addressing health and well-being and reducing healthcare costs [1,2]. The present pilot study was undertaken to explore novel avenues of optimising the physical hospital dining environment to improve patient nutrition and mealtime experience. Combined with the existing realisation that environmental surroundings contribute to the meal experience to a great extent [28,29], research exploring the environmental and aesthetic elements that support patient food intake has identified, in particular, that social relations, i.e., dining with others [30,31,32,33] as well as an attractive physical environment [34,35], are of crucial importance, and that these factors have been linked to patients’ feelings of safety, comfort, and well-being [25,36,37]. Art interventions have been linked to improvements in stress, mood, pain, and sleep [39,40]
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