Healthcare
A QUIETER LIFE FOR HEALTHCARE BUILDINGS Effective acoustic performance is important in any public sector building, but controlling noise in healthcare sites is absolutely crucial. Noise levels have a significant impact on patient recovery times, quality of care, and staff wellbeing, says Chris McElroy, Altro Specification Consultant. management I neffective of noise is typically responsible for poor sleep quality in patients, affecting the patient’s ability to rest, heal and recover, and has also been linked to ICU psychosis, hospitalisation-induced stress, increased pain sensitivity, high blood pressure and poor mental health – increasing pressure on the NHS. For this reason, guidelines on background noise levels have been issued by both national and international
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health bodies. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that, for a good night’s sleep, background noise levels should not exceed 30 dB, with no peaks over 45 dB. For the UK specifically, the Department of Health Technical Memorandum 08-01: Acoustics provides recommended maximum noise levels for specific zones across the hospital, to take into account the needs of different groups of patients and the activities carried out.
Hospitals face significant challenges; however, when trying to meet these recommended levels. Researchers at John Hopkins University identified that average daytime sound pressure levels in hospitals increased from 57 dB in 1960 to 70 dB in 2006, with a rise in average night-time levels from 42 dB to 60 dB. These levels have exceeded WHO guidelines for many years, and continue to worsen. The problem also impacts on hospital staff. A separate study, by researchers
at Heriot-Watt University, has associated excess noise with elevated levels of stress among staff, affecting performance and wellbeing, compromising caring behaviour, and contributing to burnout. So what practical measures can those involved in the creation of public sector buildings take, to assist healthcare teams in their efforts to create peaceful environments for hospital patients, staff and visitors? Acoustic performance is, of course, taken into consideration when designing new hospital buildings. In the UK, the overall requirements are outlined in the Health Building Note 0001: General Design guidance for healthcare buildings. This document should be consulted alongside the Department of Health Technical Memorandum 08-01: Acoustics, which explains the requirements in greater detail. It states, for example, that washable, acousticallyabsorbent materials may be required in some areas to support the hospital’s infection-control regime. It requires that impact sound is controlled at source, advising that internal planning of buildings should ensure that heavily-trafficked corridors are not placed near wards. A weighted standardised impact sound pressure level (L’ nT,w) of 65 dB is considered a reasonable maximum value for floors over noise-sensitive areas. It also recommends that individual areas may require additional sound reduction (for example, floors over multi-sensory rooms).
