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A Comparative Study of Acoustic Regulations for Hospital Bedrooms in Selected Countries in Europe

Author(s): ORCID
ORCID
ORCID
Medium: journal article
Language(s): English
Published in: Buildings, , n. 3, v. 13
Page(s): 578
DOI: 10.3390/buildings13030578
Abstract:

Regulatory acoustic requirements for hospitals exist in several countries in Europe, but many countries have either no or few regulatory limits or only recommendations. The purpose of limit values is to ensure optimal acoustic conditions for the patients under treatment and for the personnel for the various tasks taking place in many different rooms, e.g., bedrooms, examination and treatment rooms, corridors, stairwells, waiting and reception areas, canteens, offices, all with different acoustic needs. In addition, some rooms require special considerations such as psychiatric rooms and noisy MR-scanning rooms. The extent of limit values varies considerably between countries. Some specify few, others specify several criteria. The findings from a comparative study carried out by the authors in selected countries in various geographical parts of Europe show a diversity of acoustic descriptors and limit values. This paper includes updated criteria for reverberation time, airborne and impact sound insulation, noise from traffic and from service equipment for hospital bedrooms. The discrepancies between countries are discussed, aiming at potential learning and implementation of improved limits. In addition to regulations or guidelines, some countries have hospitals included in national acoustic classification schemes with different acoustic quality levels. Indications of such class criteria are included in the paper.

Copyright: © 2023 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
License:

This creative work has been published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) license which allows copying, and redistribution as well as adaptation of the original work provided appropriate credit is given to the original author and the conditions of the license are met.

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  • About this
    data sheet
  • Reference-ID
    10712032
  • Published on:
    21/03/2023
  • Last updated on:
    10/05/2023
 
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