Journal of clinical monitoring and computing
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Hospital noise levels regularly exceed those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is uncertain whether high noise levels have adverse effects on patient health. High levels of noise increase patient sleep loss, anxiety levels, length of hospital stay, and morbidity rates. ⋯ The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey shows a slight improvement in overall hospital noise levels in the United States, indicating a minor reduction in noise levels. Alarm ambiguity, alarm masking and inefficient alarm design contributes to a large portion of sounds that exceed the environmental noise level in the hospital. Improving the hospital soundscape can begin by training staff in noise reduction, enforcing noise reduction programs, reworking alarm design and encouraging research to evaluate the relative effects of noise producing stimuli on the hospital soundscape.