Hospitals are noisy places, and research has shown that high noise levels can lead to increased stress, anxiety, and delayed recovery times.
With this in mind, The World Health Organization recommends the level of background noise in hospitals should not exceed 35dB during the day and 20dB at night. Unfortunately, most health care facilities do not, or cannot, comply with these levels.
Clever design choices are one way of helping to lower noise pollution in healthcare facilities. That’s why acoustics are a key consideration at Silver Thomas Hanley (STH), an architectural firm whose design philosophy is underpinned by the important relationship between human wellness and the built environment.
Associate Principal and Architect at STH Anna Fox said before finding ways to address excess noise in hospitals, you must first consider what causes so much of it in the first place.
“They are 24 hour facilities, seven days a week. They do not stop. They are constantly open, thriving, working environments. There is really no downtime” she said.
She said the noise emerges from many sources: whether it be staff and patient communication, foot traffic, multiple monitors, patients themselves, routines of the hospital such as linen movements, waste movements, and food movements. There are ambient noises as well such as ventilation and air conditioning. And, inevitably there are a lot of hard surfaces for infection control purposes which contributes to noise bouncing around.
“While we talk about noise as a problem in the healthcare sector we also need to consider how the facility can support clear communication, given all the staff communications that do need to occur and the communication with patients and loved ones,” she said.
She said for all their healthcare projects they work closely with acoustic engineers from the very early phases of design.
“That’s really important in terms of a number of considerations, it might be HVAC systems that have lower sound ratings if they can be selected, it’s window placements and facade treatments,” she said.
She explained that noise considerations always start right at the beginning of the design; from considerations about how far back from the road the building is located, to considering the location of loading docks, car parks and access and egress. Anna also likes incorporating timber as a sound absorber as it’s not only visually appealing but also reinforces that sense of connectivity to nature.
When STH worked on the Monash Children's Hospital, there was really careful consideration of noise sensitive areas.
“So the NICU was located away from spaces prone to excessive noise such as the helipad or medical imaging department and the design included architectural features in the ceiling above the nurses stations knowing they’re places that a lot of noise is generated from staff communication and there was also consideration around the acoustic ceiling tiles in the corridors to suppress some of that noise that’s generated in the in patient areas,” Anna said.
Clinical Health Planner with STH Stuart Turk added that while absorbing some of those decibels through design considerations is one important way to address noise, another is hospitals stepping up and creating “a quiet culture”.
To address acoustics, STH also does a lot of consultation with the end users to understand their workflow and processes.
“Noise mitigation is often subtleties that are incorporated into the design,” Anna said.
“There is not one way to solve it, there are many different ways”.
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