RT Journal Article
T1 The characterization of noise levels in a neonatal intensive care unit and the implications for noise management
A1 Fortes Garrido, Juan Carlos
A1 Vélez Pereira, Andres Mauricio
A1 Gázquez González, Manuel Jesús
A1 Hidalgo Hidalgo, Montserrat
A1 Bolívar Raya, Juan Pedro
AB Background: The effects of noise are particularly harmful for the newborns, and therefore this study assesses andcharacterizes noise levels in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in a medium-size hospital in the city of Huelvawith the aim of optimizing the management and quality of care for newborns.Methods: The equivalent continuous sound level was recorded as A-weighting curves using Type I sound levelmeters with levels measured during 100 milliseconds along to 15-day period in the both critical (in and out ofincubators), and intermediate care units from a medium-size hospital. These devices were attached to a centralbeam 80 cm below the ceiling and into one of the incubators.Results: The maximum noise levels measured for critical (C-in), C(out) and intermediate (I) were: 88.8 dBA, 97.2 dBAand 92.4 dBA, respectively, while for the equivalent noise levels for the total measuring period (15 d) were 57.0 dBA,63.7 dBA, and 59.7 dBA, respectively. The Fourier frequency analysis has demonstrated several typical periodsrelated to both work activities and family visit, which were: 7 days, 24 h, 12 h, and 3 h.Conclusions: The statistical analysis revealed a clear correlation between the noise level, the kind of care room, andthe time of the day. The results show that the values recommended by international bodies and agencies (AAP,WHO) are surpassed by a large margin, thus making it crucial that certain norms are followed in order to reducethe noise level in the NICU, by means of physical alterations to the layout, and raising awareness of health carepersonnel and visitors in order to encourage noise prevention in the daily care work and conversation. And finally, hasbeen demonstrated that by applying the t-Student test the mean noise values in both wards are significantly different,which leads us to state that the noise level for the critical wards are higher than in the intermediate care ward
PB Springer
SN 2052-336X (electrónico)
YR 2014
FD 2014-07
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25504
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25504
LA eng
NO Fortes-Garrido, J. C., Velez-Pereira, A. M., Gázquez, M., Hidalgo-Hidalgo, M., & Bolívar, J. P. (2014). The characterization of noise levels in a neonatal intensive care unit and the implications for noise management. In Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering (Vol. 12, Issue 1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.1186/2052-336x-12-104
NO We would like to thank Dr Ricardo Hernández of the University of Cádiz for his support in obtaining the equipment and technical support necessary for this study, and Dr José Ceballos, Director of the Pediatrics Department at HJRJ, for allowing us to use its installations for our research
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026