Like light, colour, and temperature, sound can significantly impact on patient recovery rates in healthcare facilities; nevertheless, the importance of good acoustics is often underestimated.
So says architectural product manufacturer, Hunter Douglas, which argues that considering acoustic solutions early on in a project is key when designing a building. Its new ‘white paper’, The ceiling as an acoustic instrument for cultivating healthy and productive interior climates in healthcare, ‘presents ceilings as an ideal means of realising optimal acoustics’.
A study by Sweden’s Huddinge University Hospital, which examined interior acoustics’ influence on the recovery of cardiac patients, saw the sound-reflecting ceiling tiles in the hospital’s cardiology department replaced with sound-absorbing tiles. After three months, there were significant differences between good and poor acoustics with regard to the pulse rate amplitude of patients who had suffered cardiac arrest or heart spasms.
