Health Care Facilities
The acoustics of healthcare facilities are important considerations in the promotion of the health of patients. Room acoustics are further important factors to ensure adequate degrees of speech privacy of conversations between hospital staff and patients.
The Facility Guidelines Institute describes standard acoustical design requirements for health care facilities in its publication Guidelines for Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities. The most recent version is dated 2010; an update is planned for 2014.
The FGI Guidelines describe minimum goals for the sound attenuation ratings of interior constructions between room pairs and for exterior constructions. Criteria are also given for needed levels of speech privacy of enclosed rooms, ranging from normal to confidential to secure, which can be applied to the design of doctor exam rooms, treatment rooms, patient rooms, interview rooms, and other spaces. Speech privacy is a function of the sound attenuation of the room construction and the level of useful background noise in the adjoining listening space.
The Guidelines define maximum desirable levels of background noise in health care spaces needed to optimize speech intelligibility and minimize noise interference and annoyance. The design policy further describes desired amounts of sound absorption to be provided in each class of space needed to minimize reverberation, for similar reasons.
The FGI Guidelines further state goals for assessing placement of helipad facilities, for noise ratings of emergency generators, and for the acoustic performance of paging, masking, and audible alarm systems.
The Guidelines are the basis for two IEQ credits under both LEED for Healthcare and Green Guide for Healthcare. The Guidelines are currently being incorporated into building codes throughout the United States, and are referenced in the International Green Construction Code. The design policy is supported by various building and design organizations.
We provide design assistance to architects and interior designers to help them choose:
- Exam room, office, and patient room layouts, partition types, and floor-
ceiling assembly types for proper sound insulation - Room sizes and acoustic room finishes to minimize reverberation and optimize speech intelligibility
- Electronic background masking systems for speech privacy
We provide design assistance to mechanical engineers to help them choose:
- Quiet ventilation and other mechanical equipment based on rated sound levels
- Duct silencing where needed to reduce fan noise
- Appropriate selections and layouts of ducts terminal devices to minimize flow-
generated noise
