Multi-unit analysis of noise level exceedances over time in hospitals

The purpose of this project is to expand the knowledge base of health care soundscapes by analyzing noise level exceedances in a relatively large sample of hospitals and units, in order to more clearly define the range of sound levels typically experienced in modern healthcare noise environments. Occurrence rate is a newer measure of how often peak and maximum sound levels occur over a measurement period. Other metrics analyzed in this project include the occurrence rate of minimum sound levels and the difference between maximum and minimum sound levels. These and more traditional sound level metrics are evaluated along with standard percentile noise levels over time. The data analyzed in this project are from the Healthcare Acoustics Research Team (HART) library of hospital research and includes 4 hospitals, 18 units, and several measurement locations in each unit. The large sample size provides a greater degree of certainty in the development of standard levels of noise exceeded over time in hospitals.