Study of noise external to public hospitals in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara

Abstract

Environmental noise is at the present time a cause of concern, for the serious nuisance that it causes, and also the effects on health and behavior of individuals, on human activities, as well as for the psychological and social consequences. Hospital centers are places where numerous factors of quality and degradation can affect the recovery of patients. Knowing the acoustical conditions in some of the main hospitals of the city will make it possible to suggest measures to assist the present problem. We sampled 7 hospitals. The measurement points were selected at corners and at representative points or areas of pedestrian and vehicular entrance, a minimum of 4 points per block. We detected critical points of environmental noise in the vicinity of the hospitals, that require urgent attention. Some of the critical levels of noise were for LEQ, 93.4 and averages of this around 84.63 and maximum levels of 114.2, caused by an ambulance siren.