title: Characterising the ambient sound environment for infants in intensive care wards.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.|Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne.|Temple University, Philadelphia, USA.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5038-9374
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shoemark
authors.affiliation: The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Harcourt
authors.affiliation: Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Arnup
authors.affiliation: Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.|Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne.|The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Rod W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hunt
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000517:prevention & control*
keywords: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU); Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU); auditory stimulation; noise; sound