Abstract
Nursing homes are the facilities where the elderly conduct their daily activities. This may lead to a complicated acoustic environment which would potentially affect the ability of the elderly to function. In this study, the main indoor public space of a nursing home in Harbin was taken as the research object, and the methods of field observation, sound measurement, and questionnaire survey were used to explore the sound perception and preference of the elderly. The results revealed that in terms of the temporal and spatial distribution of sound pressure level (SPL), the unit living space had the highest SPL, which was above 60 dB (A). The reverberation time (RT) of the unit living space, medical and health care center corridor, was 2.15 and 2.13 s, respectively, at a frequency of 1,000 Hz, which was within the discomfort range. The results also revealed that an acoustic environment had a strong correlation with humidity and a weak correlation with temperature. However, no significant correlation could be assessed with a luminous environment. The elderly people were generally willing to accept the natural sound sources. The factors of gender and offspring numbers had no significant impact on the evaluation of acoustic environment comfort, whereas marriage and income status affected the comfort. This study may help improve the quality of life of the elderly in the nursing home and provide a reference for the construction and design of pension facilities.
Highlights
The acoustic environment of care facilities for older adults is garnering widespread scrutiny from both researchers and practitioners due to increasing awareness of geriatric issues and challenges in society
The objective of this study is to conduct an overall assessment of the acoustic environment in the public space of nursing homes based on the measurement of sound pressure level (SPL) and reverberation time (RT)
The results showed that older people with better hearing conditions had a worse evaluation of the comfort level of the acoustic environment, whereas the older people with better sleep conditions had a higher evaluation of the comfort level of the acoustic environment
Summary
The acoustic environment of care facilities for older adults is garnering widespread scrutiny from both researchers and practitioners due to increasing awareness of geriatric issues and challenges in society. The sound environment of nursing facilities affects the physical health of the elderly, such as sleep quality, and affects their mental health. Previous studies have focused both on the perception (Kang, 2004; Meng and Kang, 2016) and physical aspects of the acoustic environment of such spaces (Aletta et al, 2017, 2018a; Devos et al, 2018). Most studies were restrained to the analysis of the optimization of the sound environment in nursing homes or the perception of the sound environment by the elderly. Little research has been conducted on the influence of individual background differences on the sound perception of the elderly in specific acoustic environments. Walking sounds Sport sounds Sound of rain and wind Device running sound Talking sounds Walking sounds Seat and table moving sounds Playing card sounds Background music
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