Zhou, T;
Wu, Y;
Meng, Q;
Kang, J;
(2020)
Influence of the Acoustic Environment in Hospital Wards on Patient Physiological and Psychological Indices.
Frontiers in Psychology
, 11
, Article 1600. 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01600.
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Abstract
Patients in general wards are often exposed to excessive levels of noise and activity, and high levels of noise have been associated with depression and anxiety. Previous studies have found that an appropriate acoustic environment is beneficial to the patient’s therapeutic and treatment process; however, the soundscape is rarely intentionally designed or operated to improve patient recovery, especially for psychological rehabilitation. To gain the most accurate, and least variable, estimate of acoustic environmental stimuli/properties, virtual reality (VR) technology should be used to ensure that other environmental factors are stable and uniform in order to reduce the stimulation of other environmental factors. Therefore, this study aims to discuss the influence of the acoustic environment on patient physiological/psychological indicators and the mechanism of the effect on recovery using VR technology. A digital three-dimensional (3D) model of a hospital room was constructed, and experimental subjects wore VR glasses to visualize a real ward scene. Four typical sound categories were selected to analyze the effect of the acoustic environment on recovery; physiological indicators were monitored, and psychological factors were subjectively evaluated. The results show that music plays an important role in reducing stress as it can aid in a patient’s physiological (skin conduction levels) and psychological stress recovery. Furthermore, mechanical and anthropogenic sounds exert negative effects on a patient’s stress recovery. However, the effect is only limited to psychological stress indicators. The interaction effects of demographic characteristics and the acoustic environment are not significant, and future studies could consider the social–economic characteristics of patients. Based on these findings, we provide evidence that indicates that a hospital’s acoustic environment is an important influencing factor on the stress recovery of patients and can serve as a reference for healthcare architects and policy makers.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Influence of the Acoustic Environment in Hospital Wards on Patient Physiological and Psychological Indices |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01600 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01600 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10107747 |
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