Noise environments in nursing homes: An overview of the literature and a case study in Flanders with quantitative and qualitative methods

Abstract

As noise is a basic contributor to the evaluation of an environment, the indoor environment of a nursing home (where residents are provided with 24-hour functional support and care) is studied with this focus. General research results, as indicated from a literature review, are limited up till now. Using quantitative and qualitative methods five nursing homes in Flanders were studied before and after acoustic interventions. Sound levels were measured in individual bedrooms, living rooms and corridors to obtain the typical levels during a day. Acoustic intra-room performance parameters (reverberation time) and inter-room performance parameters (airborne noise insulation level and impact noise insulation level) were measured and compared with Belgian target values. The post operam measurements indicated the potential of the acoustic interventions (use of acoustic curtains, wall and ceiling panels, ventilations grills, floating floors) to improve the building performance and the acoustic climate. From a qualitative viewpoint, the thematic analysis of staff response to the acoustic interventions indicated direct positive outcomes (e.g., more pleasant, quieter indoor soundscapes) with both positive and negative outcomes from perceived indirect effects (i.e., non-acoustic factors).

Acoustic Design Criteria in Naturally Ventilated Residential Buildings: New Research Perspectives by Applying the Indoor Soundscape Approach

“…Methods such as "grounded theory" coupled with interviews have been specifically investigated in the field of indoor soundscapes, to systematically extract information on subjective perception from qualitative data gathered during questionnaires or interviews [60][61][62]. Several studies have addressed the perception of acoustic environments in specific building types, such as: residential buildings [51,57,63], offices [60,64], libraries [53,65], care facilities [66][67][68], study spaces [69], historical buildings [61,62], restaurants [70], shopping malls [71,72], and public transport spaces [73]. Table 1 provides insight into these selected studies.…”

Designing Supportive Soundscapes for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia

“…In previous work [64], a pilot soundscape intervention study was conducted to experiment with composed soundscapes (Figure 4). In order to obtain maximal desired outcome, a study of the level of acoustic comfort present in the different nursing homes was performed, consisting of reverberation time measurements and sound insulation measurements between rooms, initiating interventions that have been realized to improve the acoustic comfort level in specific rooms [65,66]. During these experiments, different acoustic stimuli were selected to be part of a soundscape composition that was played continuously in individual rooms of residents.The selection and timing of these stimuli resulted from co-creation sessions with staff and family members.…”

Application of a Prediction Model for Ambient Noise Levels and Acoustical Capacity for Living Rooms in Nursing Homes Hosting Older People with Dementia

“…As part of the engagement and demonstration activities of the AcustiCare project, a number of acoustical retrofit interventions were deployed in each of the participating NHs; these included, among others, the installation of suspended and wall-mounted absorbing elements, installation of acoustic curtains and installation of noise-reducing ventilation grids (more details about the demo interventions are reported in [13]). For the living room of the present study, approximately 110 m 2 of absorbing gypsum tiles (Gyptone Tile Quattro 50 and Rigitone 12/25 Q by Gyproc), applied to cover hard plaster ceiling, and a floating acoustic floor (Moduleo) on top of the existing floor, were installed [13]. Reverberation time measurements and noise-level-monitoring via sensor nodes were repeated in the same conditions after the installation of the acoustic materials.…”

“…Defining acoustic comfort in such environments is not an easy task when so many factors come into play, such as the particular groups of people involved (e.g., staff members, nursing home residents) and their perception, the activities taking place with their potentially conflicting sound sources, and building and room acoustics itself [6][7][8][9]. Characterizing the acoustic environments of nursing homes (NHs) with adequate indicators is crucial to inform design guidelines and eventually provide supportive living environments for their users [10][11][12][13].…”