Trends of the acoustic condition in an intensive care unit based on a long-term measurement

Abstract

Noise levels in hospitals, especially in intensive care units (ICUs), are often very high, potentially influencing the patients’ well-being and recovery processes, where the undesirable acoustic environment is also considered to be one of the risk factors contributing to ICU delirium. In the current study, a continuous measurement was taken for 3 months in 8 single-bed patient rooms in an ICU, of which the results were analyzed in synchrony with the admission of 106 patients. On average, the A-weighted energy-equivalent sound pressure level (LAeq) in patient rooms varied significantly with the time of day (p < 0.001), but was not dependent on the day of week (p = 0.448). Furthermore, analysis of noise levels in occupied versus unoccupied rooms indicated the dominance of room-internal sources in the former and room-external sources in the latter periods. During the first four days of patients’ ICU stay, the acoustic condition improved slightly from day 1 to day 2, but the noise level rebounded from day 2, most likely in relation to the various phases of treatment and recovery. Between-patient variability was found to be significant, which may be an important aspect to consider when comparing the acoustic conditions in an environment occupied by different groups of patients.