Exploring positive hospital ward soundscape interventions
File(s)
Author(s)
Mackrill, J
Jennings, P
Cain, R
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Sound is often considered as a negative aspect of an environment that needs mitigating, particularly in hospitals. It is worthwhile however, to consider how subjective responses to hospital sounds can be made more positive. The authors identified natural sound, steady state sound and written sound source information as having the potential to do this. Listening evaluations were conducted with 24 participants who rated their emotional (Relaxation) and cognitive (Interest and Understanding) response to a variety of hospital ward soundscape clips across these three interventions. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed that the 'Relaxation' response was significantly affected (n(2) = 0.05, p = 0.001) by the interventions with natural sound producing a 10.1% more positive response. Most interestingly, written sound source information produced a 4.7% positive change in response. The authors conclude that exploring different ways to improve the sounds of a hospital offers subjective benefits that move beyond sound level reduction. This is an area for future work to focus upon in an effort to achieve more positively experienced hospital soundscapes and environments.
Date Issued
2014-04-24
Date Acceptance
2014-04-06
Citation
Applied Ergonomics, 2014, 45 (6), pp.1454-1460
ISSN
1872-9126
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1454
End Page
1460
Journal / Book Title
Applied Ergonomics
Volume
45
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2014 Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Subjects
Environment
Healthcare
Soundscape
Acoustic Stimulation
Adult
Auditory Perception
Emotions
Female
Health Facility Environment
Hospitals
Humans
Male
Noise
Surveys and Questionnaires
Questionnaires
Human Factors
Medical Physiology
Design Practice And Management
Human Movement And Sports Science
Publication Status
Published