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Critical Care
Published in: Critical Care 2/2009

01-04-2009 | Review

Clinical review: The impact of noise on patients' sleep and the effectiveness of noise reduction strategies in intensive care units

Authors: Hui Xie, Jian Kang, Gary H Mills

Published in: Critical Care | Issue 2/2009

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Abstract

Excessive noise is becoming a significant problem for intensive care units (ICUs). This paper first reviews the impact of noise on patients' sleep in ICUs. Five previous studies have demonstrated such impacts, whereas six other studies have shown other factors to be more important. Staff conversation and alarms are generally regarded as the most disturbing noises for patients' sleep in ICUs. Most research in this area has focused purely on noise level, but work has been very limited on the relationships between sleep quality and other acoustic parameters, including spectrum and reverberation time. Sound-absorbing treatment is a relatively effective noise reduction strategy, whereas sound masking appears to be the most effective technique for improving sleep. For future research, there should be close collaboration between medical researchers and acousticians.
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Metadata
Title
Clinical review: The impact of noise on patients' sleep and the effectiveness of noise reduction strategies in intensive care units
Authors
Hui Xie
Jian Kang
Gary H Mills
Publication date
01-04-2009
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Critical Care / Issue 2/2009
Electronic ISSN: 1364-8535
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/cc7154

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