Survey of speech transmission and sound environment in an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) hospital―A case study

In this study, we investigated speech transmission and the sound environment in an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) hospital, considering three categories: a “vocal system” by the hospital staff, a “transmission system” with noise and reverberation, and a “listening system” by outpatients. First, we conducted a questionnaire survey among outpatients and staff in the waiting and consultation rooms of the ENT hospital. Second, we measured the noise level and reverberation time in the two rooms. Our findings confirmed that hearing-impaired outpatients had trouble responding when their names were called at the hospital reception. The inconvenience problem was more marked for outpatients with a higher degree of hearing loss. Many of the staff thought that this was caused by noise and their hearing loss, and made an effort to speak slowly, clearly and loudly when explaining anything to the outpatients. However, many of the staff also felt that there was a lot of noise in the rooms, and the measured noise level of the waiting room and consultation room indeed exceeded the allowable value.