Hospitals are too loud, and patients sleep could be suffering because of it, suggests a new study.
According to World Health Organization recommendations, noise in hospital rooms generally shouldnt get above 30 to 40 decibels. But researchers at one hospital reported that the average noise level in patients rooms was close to 50 decibels, and sometimes spiked as high as 80 decibels – almost as loud as a chainsaw, they said.
The hospital environment is certainly not a restful environment, said Dr. Vineet Arora, from the University of Chicago.
In a study of about 100 adult patients at their medical center, she and her colleagues found that noise levels in patients rooms at night tended to be lower than during the day, but almost always exceeded recommendations for average and maximum noise level.