RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Noise in ICUs: Review and detailed analysis of long-term SPL monitoring in ICUs in northern Spain
A1 Althahab, Awwab Qasim Jumaah
A1 Vuksanovic, Branislav
A1 Al-Mosawi, Mohamed
A1 Machimbarrena Gutiérrez, María de la O
A1 Arias, Roi
K1 Intensive care units
K1 Cuidados intensivos, Unidades de
K1 Critical care medicine
K1 Cuidados intensivos
K1 Noise
K1 Noise control
K1 Ruido, Lucha contra el
K1 Fourier analysis
K1 Fourier, Transformaciones de
K1 Algoritmos
K1 Estadística descriptiva
K1 Análisis estadístico
K1 Statistics
K1 2201.05 Ruido
K1 1209.01 Estadística Analítica
AB Intensive care units (ICUs) are busy and noisy areas where patients and professional staff can be exposed to acoustic noise for long periods of time. In many cases, noise levels significantly exceed the levels recommended by the official health organisations. This situation can affect not only patient recovery but also professional staff, making ICUs unhealthy work and treatment environments. To introduce the measures and reduce the acoustic noise in the ICU, acoustic noise levels should first be measured and then appropriately analysed. However, in most studies dealing with this problem, measurements have been performed manually over short periods, leading to limited data being collected. They are usually followed by insufficient analysis, which in turn results in inadequate measures and noise reduction. This paper reviews recent works dealing with the problem of excessively high noise levels in ICUs and proposes a more thorough analysis of measured data both in the time and frequency domains. Applied frequency domain analysis identifies the cyclic behaviour of the measured sound pressure levels (SPLs) and detects the dominant frequency components in the SPL time series. Moreover, statistical analyses are produced to depict the patterns and SPLs to which patients in ICUs are typically exposed during their stay in the ICU. It has been shown that the acoustic environment is very similar every night, while it can vary significantly during the day or evening periods. However, during most of the observed time, recorded SPLs were significantly above the prescribed values, indicating an urgent need for their control and reduction. To effectively tackle this problem, more detailed information about the nature of noise during each of the analysed periods of the day is needed. This issue will be addressed in the continuation of this project.
PB MDPI
SN 1424-8220
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/60198
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/60198
LA eng
NO Sensors, 2022, Vol. 22, Nº. 23, 9038
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 27-jul-2024