Assessment of acoustical level in healthcare design: In comparison with the standards of world health organization

Abstract

This research was undertaken to assess acoustical conditions in the hospital environment, researcher aimed at investigating sound levels of local hospitals and to evaluate how much their current status complied with recommendations levels given by World Health Organization. To assess the actual noise impact, sound levels of six local hospitals were measured using non-probability sampling technique at five different locations of every hospital i.e. Waiting Area, Emergency Department, Corridor, Intensive Care Unit and General Ward. All readings obtained during morning, afternoon and night intervals were then compared with World Health Organization acoustic guidelines for hospitals (30-40dB) Findings revealed that sound levels of all hospitals studied were significantly high as compared to standards given by WHO, the hypothesis was significant with p