Relating patient physiology to the hospital sound environment.

Abstract

Sounds in hospital wards have previously been linked to physiologic changes in patients including sleep disturbance, variation in vital signs, and impaired pain management. However, relationships between sound measurements and variations in physiologic measures remain somewhat unclear. This presentation will discuss a pilot study that focuses on the relationships between acoustic measurements and patient physiology in a Swedish medical-surgical intensive care unit. Sound measurements as well as physiologic measures including heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, and blood pressure were recorded simultaneously for 24-h periods in 18 patients. Several different analyzes were performed to assess the relationships between the acoustic results and the patients’ physiological measurements. The data demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between the recorded physiological responses and acoustic measurements. The results build upon previous results to further elucidate the relationships between hospital acoustics and patient physiological arousal. This paper is part of a series of studies that evaluates the hospital soundscape and the response of patients and staff members. [Work supported by ASA and Swedish FAS.]