Perceived sounds and their reported level of disturbance in intensive care units: A multinational survey among healthcare professionals.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The noise levels in intensive care units have been repeatedly reported to exceed the recommended guidelines and yield negative health outcomes among healthcare professionals. However, it is unclear which sound sources within this environment are perceived as disturbing. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate how healthcare professionals in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria perceive the sound levels and the associated sound sources within their work environment and explore sound reduction strategies.

Material and methods

An online survey was conducted among 350 healthcare professionals working in intensive care units. The survey consisted of items on demographic and hospital data and questions about the perception of the sound levels [1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (stro

SUBMITTER: Ruettgers N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9803129 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature