Shoemark Helen, Harcourt Edward, Arnup Sarah J, Hunt Rod W
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.
Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne.
J Paediatr Child Health. 2016 Apr;52(4):436-40. doi: 10.1111/jpc.13084. Epub 2016 Apr 6.
The purpose of this study is to characterise ambient sound levels of paediatric and neonatal intensive care units in an old and new hospital according to current standards.
The sound environment was surveyed for 24-h data collection periods (n = 80) in the Neonatal and Paediatric Intensive Care Units (NICUs and PICUs) and Special Care Nursery of the old and new Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. The ambient sound environment was characterised as the proportion of time the ongoing ambient sound met standard benchmarks, the mean 5-s sound levels and the number and duration of noise events.
In the old hospital, none of the data collection periods in the NICU and PICU met the standard benchmark for ongoing ambient sound, while only 5 of the 22 data collection periods in the new hospital met the recommended level. There was no change in proportion of time at recommended Leq between the old and the new Special Care Nursery. There was strong evidence for a difference in the mean number of events >65 dBA (Lmax ) in the old and new hospital (rate ratio = 0.82, 95% confidence interval: 0.73 to 0.92, P = 0.001). The NICU and PICU were above 50 dBA in 75% of all data collection periods, with ventilatory equipment associated with higher ongoing ambient sound levels.
The ongoing ambient sound suggests that the background sound environment of the new hospital is not different to the old hospital. However, there may be a reduction in the number of noise events.
本研究旨在根据现行标准，对一家新旧医院的儿科和新生儿重症监护病房的环境声级进行特征描述。
在墨尔本皇家儿童医院新旧院区的新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）、儿科重症监护病房（PICU）和特殊护理病房，对声音环境进行了24小时的数据收集（n = 80）。环境声环境的特征在于持续环境声符合标准基准的时间比例、平均5秒声级以及噪声事件的数量和持续时间。
在旧医院，NICU和PICU的数据收集时段均未达到持续环境声的标准基准，而新医院22个数据收集时段中只有5个达到了推荐水平。新旧特殊护理病房在推荐的等效连续A声级（Leq）时间比例上没有变化。有强有力的证据表明，新旧医院中>65分贝A（Lmax）事件的平均数量存在差异（率比 = 0.82，95%置信区间：0.73至0.92，P = 0.001）。在所有数据收集时段中，75%的NICU和PICU高于50分贝A，通风设备与较高的持续环境声级相关。
持续环境声表明新医院的背景声环境与旧医院没有差异。然而，噪声事件的数量可能有所减少。
