Sleep is essential for healing, but hospitals are noisy places. A new study suggests that hospitals should be more thoughtful about disruptive sounds. The investigators went to a hospital and recorded typical sounds including intravenous pump alarms, laundry carts and conversations. The volunteers were 12 healthy people hooked up to monitors to measure brain waves and heart rate while they slept.
The recordings were played at different sound volumes. The IV pump alarms were most intrusive, waking 90 percent of the subjects even when played quietly. Whispered voices were also effective at waking three fourths of the study volunteers. If patients are to recover quickly from surgery and other procedures perhaps it’s time for hospital staff to be more considerate about noise at night.
