Tinnitus research Researchers Dr. Michael Kilgard and Dr. Navzer Engineer from The University of Texas at Dallas in cooperation with a company called MicroTransponder report that sounds paired with stimulation of the vagus nerve eliminated tinnitus in rats. A clinical trial in humans is due to begin in the next few months. The method works […]
Healthcare
Design as a medicine in an ICU
Can the design of a room lead to quicker recovery like a medicine? Design as medicine That is what is being investigated in a project at an ICU at Södra Älvsborgs hospital in Borås, Sweden. The design of the patient room includes the use of soft colors, the sound environment is being controlled by acoustic […]
Noise at work bad for your heart
Noise at work significantly ‘heightens heart risk’ and makes you weigh and smoke more, study finds Working in a consistently noisy environment such as a factory more than doubles the risk of serious heart problems, research suggests. In the under -50s, the risk increases fourfold, the study warns, and young male smokers are also particularly […]
The ICU patient room – a healing environment study
This year will be the start of a doctoral study to be performed at Södra Älvsborgs Sjukhus in Borås, Sweden in an ICU patient room ICU patient room The aim of the project is to study if a holistically designed patient room in a general intensive care unit affects (supports the well-being of) the occupants […]
Ecophon Healthcare conference
Ecophon Healthcare conference Approximately 60 people attended the Ecophon Healthcare Conference on 9th September 2009 at The King’s Fund HO in London. Host for the day, Anthony Thomas, concept developer at Ecophon UK, brought together an appealing range of topics specifically aiming to support a good design of our Healthcare premises. Prominent speakers were among […]
Acoustics in Healthcare at the IOA conference
Acoustics in Healthcare Environments On Tuesday, June 16th around 50 delegates participated in a conference in Manchester called “Acoustics in Healthcare Environments”. The conference, organized by the Institute of Acoustics in the UK, was hosted by Adrian Popplewell, Ramboll UK. Seven papers were presented during the day. One of the speakers, Anthony Thomas of Ecophon […]
Noise in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU)
In “Challenging Designs of Neonatal Intensive Care Units“, Anne Marie Dazé Floyd, RN, MSN, CNS says: “A link has been established between exposure to constant room noise and loss in frequency and pattern discrimination essential to understanding the spoken word. Loss of the ability to discriminate speech can cause profound developmental delay by interfering with […]
Patients risk sleep problems from noise in Critical Care units
Critical care unit (CCU) noise may put patients at risk of sleep problems The study, by M Topf and M Bookman at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, says that technological advances in CCUs are contributing to this problem and that the results provide support for the hypothesis that critical care unit sound levels […]
Campaign to reduce noise in Neonatal Units
Reduce noise Birmingham Women’s Hospital NHS Trust took part in a regional campaign to raise awareness of noise levels in Neonatal Units and the need to reduce noise. Led by Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Cheryl Lewis, the campaign highlighted the impact noise can have on babies. It included staff training, posters, badges, and the use […]
Less noise – less need for pain medication
Noise can make it more difficult to cope with pain. A nursing study performed by Barbra Blake Minckley showed that twice the number of patients were administrated pain medication when noise levels were “High” compared with “Low” or “Middle”. Even quite moderate noise levels can potentially disturb the process of caring for the patient. She […]
