One of the most interesting themes in Session A 16.09: Acoustic Comfort in Hospitals at Forum Acusticum 2026 was the complexity of healthcare acoustics. While reducing noise often seems like an obvious goal, two presentations reminded us that acoustic design rarely solves one problem in isolation. Instead, it involves balancing staff and patient needs, safety, […]
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Assessment of Factors affecting speech in ICU wards
Introduction Speech in the ICU affected Intensive care units (ICU) can be noisy and disruptive environments from both a patient recovery and workplace perspective, affecting speech intelligibility. Noise and poor ward acoustics have been linked to sleep disturbance and protracted recovery times in patients, as well as increasing workplace stress, fatigue and occupational burnout in […]
