Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA.
J Perinatol. 2020 Apr;40(4):600-606. doi: 10.1038/s41372-020-0592-6. Epub 2020 Feb 4.
To assess the sound reducing characteristics of modern incubators in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and to better characterize auditory and language exposures for NICU infants.
Sound frequency spectral analysis was conducted on language and noise audio acquired simultaneously inside and outside incubators located in the NICU.
Sound transmission into the incubators was nonuniform. Very low-frequency sounds (<100 Hz) were unattenuated or even slightly amplified inside the incubators. Maximal reduction was observed for low-to-mid frequencies (300-600 Hz) and high frequencies (>2000 Hz), which convey important language information.
Sound reductions observed across NICU incubator walls are more severe than those reported for sound transmission into the intrauterine environment, particularly for midrange frequencies that are important for language. Although incubator walls may serve as a protection against noxious noise levels, these findings reveal a potentially detrimental effect on language exposure for infants inside a NICU incubator.
评估新生儿重症监护病房（NICU）中现代孵化器的降噪特性，并更好地描述 NICU 婴儿的听觉和语言暴露情况。
对 NICU 中孵化器内外同时采集的语言和噪声音频进行声音频率谱分析。
声音传入孵化器的情况不均匀。极低频率的声音（<100Hz）在孵化器内未减弱甚至略有放大。低频到中频（300-600Hz）和高频（>2000Hz）的最大衰减，这些频率传达了重要的语言信息。
与胎儿环境中的声音传输相比，NICU 孵化器墙壁观察到的声音减少更为严重，尤其是对于语言很重要的中频频率。尽管孵化器壁可能是防止有害噪声水平的一种保护措施，但这些发现揭示了对 NICU 孵化器内婴儿语言暴露的潜在不利影响。
