TY  - JOUR
A1  - Salandin, Andrea
A1  - Arnold, Jörg
A1  - Kornadt, Oliver
T1  - Noise in an intensive care unit
JF  - The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
N2  - Patients and staff in hospitals are exposed to a complex sound environment with rather high noise levels. In intensive care units, the main noise sources are hospital staff on duty and medical equipment, which generates both operating noise and acoustic alarms. Although noise in most cases is produced during activities for the purpose of saving life, noise can induce significant changes in the depth and quality of sleep and negatively affect health in general. Results of a survey of hospital staff are presented as well as measurements in two German hospital wards: a standard two-bed room and a special Intermediate Care Unit (IMC-Unit), each in a different Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Sound pressure data were collected over a 48 hour period and converted into different levels (LAFeq, LAFmax, LAFmin, LAF 5%), as well as a rating level LAr, which is used to take tonality and impulsiveness into account. An analysis of the survey and the measured data, together with a comparison of thresholds of national and international regulations and standards describe the acoustic situation and its likely noise effects on staff and patients.
KW  - Lärm
KW  - Messung
KW  - Akustik
KW  - Intensivstation
KW  - Arbeitsplatz
KW  - noise
KW  - intensive care unit
KW  - acoustical measurement
KW  - Lärm
KW  - Intensivstation
Y1  - 2011
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20170713-32649
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.3655884
N1  - Copyright 2011 Acoustical Society of America. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the Acoustical Society of America.

The following article appeared in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 130, 3754 (2011) and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.3655884.
VL  - 2011
IS  - 130 (6)
SP  - 3754
EP  - 3760
ER  -