Do neonates hear what we measure? Assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates’ ears
Acoustic guidelines for neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) aim to protect vulnerable neonates from noise-induced physiological harm. However, the lack of recognised international standards for measuring neonatal soundscapes has led to inconsistencies in instrumentation and microphone placement in...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/182662 |
| _version_ | 1826127367326662656 |
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| author | Lam, Bhan Fan, Peijin Esther Monica Tay, Yih Yann Poon, Woei Bing Ong, Zhen-Ting Ooi, Kenneth Gan, Woon-Seng Ang, Shin Yuh |
| author2 | School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering |
| author_facet | School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Lam, Bhan Fan, Peijin Esther Monica Tay, Yih Yann Poon, Woei Bing Ong, Zhen-Ting Ooi, Kenneth Gan, Woon-Seng Ang, Shin Yuh |
| author_sort | Lam, Bhan |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Acoustic guidelines for neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) aim to protect vulnerable neonates from noise-induced physiological harm. However, the lack of recognised international standards for measuring neonatal soundscapes has led to inconsistencies in instrumentation and microphone placement in existing literature, raising concerns about the relevance and effectiveness of these guidelines. This study addresses these gaps through long-term acoustic measurements in an operational NICU and a high-dependency ward. We investigate the influence of microphone positioning, bed placement, and ward layout on the assessment of NICU soundscapes. Beyond traditional A-weighted decibel metrics, this study evaluates C-weighted metrics for low-frequency noise, the occurrence of tonal sounds (e.g., alarms), and transient loud events known to disrupt neonates' sleep. Using linear mixed-effects models with aligned ranks transformation ANOVA (LME-ART-ANOVA), our results reveal significant differences in measured noise levels based on microphone placement, highlighting the importance of capturing sound as perceived directly at the neonate's ears. Additionally, bed position and ward layout significantly impact noise exposure, with a NICU bed position consistently exhibiting the highest sound levels across all (psycho)acoustic metrics. These findings support the adoption of binaural measurements along with the integration of additional (psycho)acoustic metrics, such as tonality and transient event occurrence rates, to reliably characterise the neonatal auditory experience. |
| first_indexed | 2025-03-09T14:32:48Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/182662 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-09T14:32:48Z |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1826622025-02-21T15:43:52Z Do neonates hear what we measure? Assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates’ ears Lam, Bhan Fan, Peijin Esther Monica Tay, Yih Yann Poon, Woei Bing Ong, Zhen-Ting Ooi, Kenneth Gan, Woon-Seng Ang, Shin Yuh School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Engineering Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Hospital soundscape Neonatal intensive care Binaural Hospital acoustics Building acoustics Acoustic guidelines for neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) aim to protect vulnerable neonates from noise-induced physiological harm. However, the lack of recognised international standards for measuring neonatal soundscapes has led to inconsistencies in instrumentation and microphone placement in existing literature, raising concerns about the relevance and effectiveness of these guidelines. This study addresses these gaps through long-term acoustic measurements in an operational NICU and a high-dependency ward. We investigate the influence of microphone positioning, bed placement, and ward layout on the assessment of NICU soundscapes. Beyond traditional A-weighted decibel metrics, this study evaluates C-weighted metrics for low-frequency noise, the occurrence of tonal sounds (e.g., alarms), and transient loud events known to disrupt neonates' sleep. Using linear mixed-effects models with aligned ranks transformation ANOVA (LME-ART-ANOVA), our results reveal significant differences in measured noise levels based on microphone placement, highlighting the importance of capturing sound as perceived directly at the neonate's ears. Additionally, bed position and ward layout significantly impact noise exposure, with a NICU bed position consistently exhibiting the highest sound levels across all (psycho)acoustic metrics. These findings support the adoption of binaural measurements along with the integration of additional (psycho)acoustic metrics, such as tonality and transient event occurrence rates, to reliably characterise the neonatal auditory experience. Submitted/Accepted version 2025-02-17T00:36:55Z 2025-02-17T00:36:55Z 2025 Journal Article Lam, B., Fan, P. E. M., Tay, Y. Y., Poon, W. B., Ong, Z., Ooi, K., Gan, W. & Ang, S. Y. (2025). Do neonates hear what we measure? Assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates’ ears. Building and Environment, 272, 112655-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112655 1873-684X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/182662 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112655 272 112655 en Building and Environment 10.21979/N9/8GHNGX 10.5281/zenodo.14643228 © 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the copyright holder. The Version of Record is available online at http://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112655. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Engineering Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Hospital soundscape Neonatal intensive care Binaural Hospital acoustics Building acoustics Lam, Bhan Fan, Peijin Esther Monica Tay, Yih Yann Poon, Woei Bing Ong, Zhen-Ting Ooi, Kenneth Gan, Woon-Seng Ang, Shin Yuh Do neonates hear what we measure? Assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates’ ears |
| title | Do neonates hear what we measure? Assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates’ ears |
| title_full | Do neonates hear what we measure? Assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates’ ears |
| title_fullStr | Do neonates hear what we measure? Assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates’ ears |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do neonates hear what we measure? Assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates’ ears |
| title_short | Do neonates hear what we measure? Assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates’ ears |
| title_sort | do neonates hear what we measure assessing neonatal ward soundscapes at the neonates ears |
| topic | Engineering Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Hospital soundscape Neonatal intensive care Binaural Hospital acoustics Building acoustics |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/182662 |
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