ArticleJournal of hospital medicine2017
Sound and Light Levels Are Similarly Disruptive in ICU and non-ICU Wards.
Article in Journal of hospital medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of Acupressure on Sleep Quality Among Inpatients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nursing & health sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Occupational Hearing Loss in the Intensive Care Unit: A Comparative Study Between ICU and Non-ICU Nursing Staff.Nursing in critical care · 2026Article
- Sleep Quality Assessment in Trauma Patients Requiring Intensive Care: A Prospective Observational Study.Cureus · 2026Article
- Respiratory sound analysis for ICU clinical decision support: deep learning-based classification of normal and abnormal sounds using real ICU data.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2026Article
- Optimizing Sleep Hygiene in the Hospital Environment.Sleep medicine clinics · 2025Review
- Light levels in a modern intensive care unit: Impact of time of year, window directionality, and outdoor light levels.Chronobiology international · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the sensory environment in a large tertiary ICU.Critical care (London, England) · 2023Observational
- Sleep and circadian disruptors: Unhealthy noise and light levels for hospitalized pediatric patients.Journal of hospital medicine · 2023Article
- Sleep during and following critical illness: A narrative review.World journal of critical care medicine · 2023Review
- Effects of immersive virtual reality on sensory overload in a random sample of critically ill patients.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- How to Improve Patients' Perceived Quality of Sleep During Hospitalization Through a Multicomponent "Good Sleep Bundle": A Prospective Before and After Controlled Study.Global journal on quality and safety in healthcare · 2022Article
- ICU Patients' Perception of Sleep and Modifiable versus Non-Modifiable Factors That Affect It: A Prospective Observational Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Adding Insult to Injury: Sleep Deficiency in Hospitalized Patients.Clinics in chest medicine · 2022Review
- Barriers to sleep in acute hospital settings.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2022Article
- An Edge Computing and Ambient Data Capture System for Clinical and Home Environments.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Challenges faced in establishing a dedicated 250 bed COVID-19 intensive care unit in a temporary structure.Trends in anaesthesia & critical care · 2021Review
- Associations between stressors and difficulty sleeping in critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit: a cohort study.BMC health services research · 2020Article
- Impact of Sleep Deprivation in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit: A Narrative Review.Neurocritical care · 2020Review
- Impact of Sleep Deprivation in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit: A Narrative Review.Neurocritical care · 2020Review
- Can ICUs create more sleep by creating less noise?Intensive care medicine · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo compare ambient sound and light levels, including SLCs, in ICU and non-ICU environments.
designObservational study.
settingTertiary-care hospital. MEASUREMENTS: Sound measurements of 0.5 Hz were analyzed to provide average hourly sound levels, sound peaks, and SLCs =17.5 decibels (dB). For light data, measurements taken at 2-minute intervals provided average and maximum light levels.
resultsThe ICU rooms were louder than non-ICU wards; hourly averages ranged from 56.1 ± 1.3 dB to 60.3 ± 1.7 dB in the ICU, 47.3 ± 3.7 dB to 55.1 ± 3.7 dB on the telemetry floor, and 44.6 ± 2.1 dB to 53.7 ± 3.6 dB on the general ward. However, SLCs = 17.5 dB were not statistically different (ICU, 203.9 ± 28.8 times; non-ICU, 270.9 ± 39.5; P = 0.11). In both ICU and non-ICU wards, average daytime light levels were <250 lux, and peak light levels occurred in the afternoon and early evening.
conclusionsQuieter, non-ICU wards have as many SLCs as ICUs do, which has implications for quality improvement measurements. Efforts to further reduce average noise levels might be counterproductive. Light levels in the hospital (ICU and non-ICU) may not be optimal for maintenance of a normal circadian rhythm for most people.
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Registered trials
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