Academy of Architecture for Health

Noise control was a paramount consideration in the design of our new hospital building.  The rooms are so quiet  that very small noises - which would go unnoticed during the day - become irritants at night.

Does anyone have experience with introducing white noise in the patient environment, or other strategies that would mask nighttime noises, to optimize patient comfort?

I appreciate all suggestions.  Thanks.
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Michael Kay AIA
Senior Director, Facilities Development and Real Estate
El Camino Hospital
Mountain View CA
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I had this problem back in the late '70s.  We had worked very hard to reduce noise in the patient rooms of a newly constructed general hospital.  The result was that patients could hear conversations from the patient rooms across the corridor and other conversations taking place in the corridor.  White noise was in its infancy then and I think we just removed some silencers from the ducts or increased the fan speed to add a little more noise at the air grilles.

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James Hunt AIA
Behavioral Health Facility Consulting, LLC
Topeka KS
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We used white noise for a major Medical Office Building, each suite was optimized at the  time of design, this saved us from having to run as many partitions to deck. You do have to wonder if the concept was kept going as renovations of the floors happened. For a patient floor area that does not have that much renovation it should be something to seriously consider.
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Herman Coronado AIA
Partner
Curry Boudreaux Architects
Houston TX
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-12-2012 12:25
From: James Hunt
Subject: Patient Units - Too Quiet?

I had this problem back in the late '70s.  We had worked very hard to reduce noise in the patient rooms of a newly constructed general hospital.  The result was that patients could hear conversations from the patient rooms across the corridor and other conversations taking place in the corridor.  White noise was in its infancy then and I think we just removed some silencers from the ducts or increased the fan speed to add a little more noise at the air grilles.

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James Hunt AIA
Behavioral Health Facility Consulting, LLC
Topeka KS
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