title: Effect of White Noise on Sleep in Patients Admitted to a Coronary Care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sleep disorders are a common problem in patients in the critical care unit. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of white noise on the quality of sleep in patients admitted to the CCU.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study was single-blind, quasi-experimental study. A total of 60 patients were selected using the purposive sampling method. Quality of sleep was measured with PSQI on the first day in admission, then after three nights of admission without any intervention for control group and for the experimental group quality of sleep measured by white noise with intensity of 50-60 dB then Quality of sleep was measured with PSQI. Data were analyzed by SPSS 13 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average total sleep time in the control group before the study reached from 7.08 (0.8) to 4.75 (0.66) hours after three nights of hospitalization, while in the experimental group, no significant changes were seen in the average sleep hours (6.69 ± 0.84 vs. 6.92 ± 0.89, P = 0.15).The average minutes of sleep in the control group before the study reached from 12.66 (7.51) to 25.83 (11.75) minutes after a three- night stay, while in the experimental group, no significant changes were observed in the average sleep duration (12.16 ± 7.50 vs. 11 ±6. 07, P = 0.16).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of white noise is recommended as a method for masking environmental noises, improving sleep, and maintaining sleep in the coronary care unit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Pouya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Farokhnezhad Afshar
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Nursing, Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bahramnezhad
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Nursing, Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran.
authors.forename: Parvaneh
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Asgari
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Engineering, Islamic Azad University Iranshahar Branch, Iranshahr, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shiri
keywords: Critical care unit; Noise; Quality of sleep; White noise