Designing a simulation center to test acoustical criteria for healthcare facilities

Noise in hospitals and healthcare facilities is an urgent public health concern. The healthcare industry has made significant financial commitments to construction and renovation over the next ten years. New guidelines from the American Institute of Architects and the LEED-based "Green Guide for Healthcare" recognize acoustical conditions as vital to environmental quality. To set specific standards for acoustical performance in healthcare facilities, clinical evidence is needed on the impact of the acoustical environment on human subjects. To meet this need, an interdisciplinary team of acoustical engineers, Harvard Medical School faculty and public policy professionals designed a simulation methodology to test acoustic disruption of sleep in humans. This collaboration uses soundscapes derived from recordings made in real healthcare environments, quantifies the response of human subjects to these soundscapes, and enables virtual design changes that alter the acoustical conditions of a virtual patient room. Studies of the human sleep response under controlled conditions will provide objective data for establishing and validating design and construction standards and for preparing impact analyses about the cost of integrating improved acoustics into healthcare facility design.