The Noise and Hospital Stay study conducted by Swedish Ph. D. Daniel Fyfe showed that in conditions of increased noise, the average length of stay of postoperative patients in a health care facility increased by 10%.
The formation of a tense acoustic environment is characteristic of modern society. This is especially evident in health care institutions, the load on which has grown significantly in recent years. Acoustic discomfort increases in parallel with the increase in the capacity of the institution and its technical equipment. According to Swedish researchers, the noise level in healthcare facilities in the country has increased by about 8 dB over the past 20 years. At the same time, it is known that in a comfortable acoustic environment, the healing process is much faster. Therefore, it is especially important for healthcare institutions to choose materials that, on the one hand, would allow to reduce the noise level, and on the other, would make it possible to maintain the necessary hygienic conditions - to regularly carry out wet cleaning with disinfectants. The Saint-Gobain company has a successful experience of interaction with medical institutions. A good example is the use of Ecophon products in the renovation works of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Norrland University in Sweden. The use of Ecophon materials as sound absorbers made it possible to create an optimally comfortable acoustic environment, due to which the vital signs of newborns (pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, etc.) were improved, and the hearing damage was reduced from more than 10% to 1-2%. Also, good results were obtained during the re-equipment of the medical center in Stockholm, where the usual ceiling tiles in the cardiology department were replaced with sound-absorbing panels. The staff of the center noted the effectiveness of this solution: a comfortable acoustic environment helps to reduce stress and increase the efficiency of medical workers, which, as a result, has a beneficial effect on the well-being of patients. Saint-Gobain acoustic materials meet the necessary hygiene requirements, combined with the highest acoustic performance for all types of healthcare facilities.
