Soundscape improvement of 45 Danish nursing homes

Abstract

This paper describes an analysis of Danish nursing home soundscapes and the subsequent attempt at implementing incremental interventions aiming to improve the soundscapes. Danish nursing homes are challenged by simultaneously being a home, workplace, and institution. Staff and residents will invariably encounter the conflicting environmental characteristics of these disparate functions, including the sound environment. In 2020, Aarhus Municipality launched a project in collaboration with Aarhus University. In the first phase, the authors conducted a soundscape analysis in five nursing homes in Aarhus. This resulted in a report containing recommendations for improving the nursing home soundscape. In the second phase initiated in 2022, soundscape screenings in all 45 nursing homes in Aarhus was conducted, the purpose of which was the mapping of existing sound sources and how staff and residents perceived them. The results of the screenings confirmed the findings in the report with certain local differences. As of May 2023, various soundscape interventions are being tested in several nursing homes. As this process is still ongoing, this paper will review the results and experiences collected so far. As part of this long-term project, the authors wish to address the gap between soundscape analysis and practical soundscape interventions.