Insights & Solutions

As part of the noise toolbox, in this issue brief you will learn about how excessive noise can negatively impact patients and staff in the hospital environment, ways to improve patients’ perception of sound, and low-cost, medium-cost, and high-cost design strategies that can reduce noise.

In the ongoing battle to reduce noise in hospital patient units, much attention has been paid to the floor and the ceiling. Over the years, several case studies have shown that sound-absorbing ceiling tile and carpet can help significantly reduce excess noise on a unit. But what about the walls?