Lego construction for operating rooms Modular operating rooms are being seen more and more on the market. It takes less time to get it up and running compared to a traditionally built hospital. It´s cost-effective, time-saving, and can be taken down and moved when it´s not needed anymore. However, it can negatively affect acoustics due […]
Healthcare
New study: C50 should be included in standards for elderly care facilities.
What are good acoustic conditions in elderly care? Recently, a new study in an elderly care home in Denmark was finalized. The motivation for this study conducted by the two Architectural Engineers Cecilie Søgaard Petersen and Stine Sonne Nautrup was that we see demographic changes all over the world and this also means that the […]
Hospital facilities often fall by the wayside
In many older hospital facilities, noise is disruptive and continuous; for this reason, particular attention was paid to the acoustics in the new intensive and intermediate care unit in Seinäjoki, Finland. According to a nationwide study, on average 55% of those working in healthcare would like to see improvements to the sound environment of working […]
Optimum room acoustics in audiological research facilities
Copenhagen Hearing and Balance Center Audiological Research Facilities are part of Rigshospitalet’s new North Wing which officially opened on Tuesday 14 January 2020 with optimum room acoustics. The new wing of 54,700 m2 was designed to cater to the needs of patients and their families and includes 196 private rooms and 33 high-tech operating theatres. […]
Telehealth on the rise – but are the video conferencing rooms ready?
Video conferencing room sound quality enough for the new reality? More consultations for citizens + 80 years From 2009 – 2014 (in Denmark), the only group of patients who consults a doctor more is the group of patients who are + more than 80 years old. All other age groups consult a doctor less. Citizens […]
Laboratories: Open-plan offices inside healthcare environments
Laboratories as open-plan offices Since March 2020, the coronavirus disease was formally characterized as a pandemic. Since that time, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to high demand for healthcare resources. Laboratory activities surged due to the rapid increase in testing. In hospitals or clinics, laboratories operate mainly in the domain of patient-related research and analyses. […]
Hospital Soundscapes and ways to heal them
The hospital soundscapes “The soundscape of the average modern hospital is a cacophony of overlapping beeps, blats, and pings from monitors, roaring ventilation systems, raucous bursts of conversation from visitors, patients and the nursing station, carts rumbling down hallways, televisions, phones. Sleep, essential to the healing process, is available primarily through medications. Even medicated sleep […]
Better sound environments for doctors and nurses in the Czech Republic
One of our editors in the Czech Republic (CZ), Iveta Kralova, was recently part of an intervention study to create better sound in an eye clinic in Hradec Kralove. Here follows her experience in a country where acoustic standards for healthcare are lacking and where a lot of buildings are too loud to heal. Many […]
Clever hospital designs prevent noise and calm down patients
A few years ago, at the Healthcare Estates Conference in Manchester, UK John Criddle from Evelina London Children’s Hospital and Martin Jones from Art in Site talked about how they designed the emergency dept. with the use of illustrative and digital arts to guide, reassure, and role model behaviors. Their talk was called: Taking the ‘OUCH’ out of Emergency. […]
New research: Sleep in the ICU
Acoustic interruptions A recent study published in Critical Care Explorations revealed a potential relationship between acoustic interruptions and worsened perceived sleep quality. One of the results was that patients were exposed to 4,861 acoustic interruptions in total during the night! The conception that critically ill patients are too ill to reflect on their sound environment […]
