PEACE AND QUIET, NOT IRRITATING, HARMFUL NOISE
You have a top-notch facility, the latest technology and a stellar staff.
But does your environment encourage calmness and recovery? Perhaps not. In fact, many hospitals and LTC facilities exhibit excessive noise, often with peak sound levels louder than a jackhammer and many times louder than the EPA, OSHA and the World Health Organization recommend.
A properly optimized acoustical environment is critical — because every sound your patients (and staff) hear plays a part in their wellbeing.
There is an enormous body of research that proves that noise increases the stress response, causes hypertension, increases respirations and heart rate, impedes learning, increases errors and causes cognitive impairment.
There is simply nothing positive about high levels of harmful, disturbing noise — for patients, visitors or staff.
With our decades of experience and our extensive understanding of the science of sound control, we can help turn your facility into a more pleasing environment for patients, visitors and staff alike.
THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF NOISE ARE MANY AND VARIED
There is an ever-growing awareness and widespread acknowledgment of the negative effects of noise on the health of patients and that of their caregivers.
But noise is also harmful to the success of your organization.
Healthcare Finance News stated in "Everybody's Top Complaint About Hospitals? Noise, According To HCAHPS Data" (12/17) that noise makes a night in the hospital "exasperating."
Susan E. Mazer, Ph.D., stated in her 3/13 blog post that "Today's noise is tomorrow's HCAHPS score."
Acoustic Therapeutics can help.
With our proprietary acoustical products, noise-monitoring and reporting technology, and our decades of global consulting experience, we can help improve the patient experience and your staff's job satisfaction.
Your organization must remain healthy if it is to attract patients and retain top-notch staff, plus garner favorable HCAHPS scores and social media reviews by providing the highest level of care. Proper acoustical control is a win-win.
NOISE CONTROL IS CRITICAL IN MEMORY CARE ENVIRONMENTS
Noise has quantifiable negative effects on all patients, but research shows even greater impact on memory-impaired patients, who are particularly sensitive to external stimuli, perhaps most of all by sound.
There is opinion that the sounds that memory-impaired people perceive may not be the actual sound that's occurring, but perhaps something even more disturbing to them. A sonically pleasing atmosphere is key.
It has been reported that chronic difficulty in hearing can lead to a sense of detachment, loneliness and isolation — particularly among the memory-impaired.
A calm, tranquil environment ensures that these sensitive individuals can hear familiar, beneficial sounds and communicate effectively with others. Laughter, conversations, music and more, at appropriate levels, can all help to ground these patients.
Further, research suggests that improvement can be expected in virtually all quantifiable markers of dementia, including the reduction or elimination of pharmaceuticals in some patients.
