Actual conditions of noises in hospitals- Comparison between hospitals in Japan and Germany -

摘要

The purpose of this study was to compare sound levels and sound sources in hospitals in Japanand Europe. Data was gathered in 6 hospitals in Japan and 2 hospitals in Germany. Soundlevels were measured for 24-hours, and the L_(Aeq,10min) was also calculated every 30 minutes.Questionnaire surveys were conducted with inpatients and medical staffs. The following resultswere obtained: (1) There was little difference in sound levels between the two countries, (2)Principal sound sources were conversations and staff work in corridors. The levels of thesesounds need to be reduced. On the other hand, temporal changes of L_(Aeq,10min) in Japanesehospitals were smaller than those in Germany. The percentage of questionnaire surveyrespondents who rated “opening and closing doors” as satisfactory or a little satisfactory wascomparatively low in Germany. A reason for this result is that the doors of patient rooms aremostly open in Japan. Different tendencies between the two countries can be seen in thepercentage of time when inpatients suffered from noise.