Acoustic Components in the Medical Industry
Leave a CommentPatients and medical practitioners both benefit from quieter environments, but hospitals and laboratories often have high levels of ambient noise. Even clinics, offices of private practitioners, and homes of recuperating or long-term patients still have noises that may cause distraction or anxiety.
Noise absorbers and sound dampening materials are important throughout the medical industry as patients and medical professionals seek to reduce noise levels. OEMs are often asked to reduce noise levels on equipment such as:
- Diagnostic and testing equipment
- Home-use medical devices
- Hospital-based care equipment
- Patient care equipment
Medical Environments That Require Sound Absorption
Good medical acoustic design involves balancing competing interests. Enclosed devices can have more sound-muffling technology, but visible controls facilitate easier use. Sound-absorbing outer shells might make equipment maintenance harder even as they quiet the noise level. Striking the right balance between these factors can dramatically increase the comfort and usability of medical equipment.
Some of the specific benefits of good acoustical design include:
Patient Satisfaction
Noisy settings can be stressful and displeasing. This negative impression can impact a patient’s decision to choose your facility and their perceived quality of care.
Better Employee Focus and Productivity
Loud, unusually low-pitched or high-pitched, and/or repetitive noises (often referred to as tones) can distract employees. Adverse acoustic conditions can also impede clear communication or cause doctors, nurses, and medical staff additional stress in what may already be a stressful work environment.
Removing or minimizing ambient noise and tonality in equipment can improve employee performance by reducing the risk of error, improving communication between staff and patients, and improving employee satisfaction with their workplace. It may also reduce HIPAA violations and better protect patient privacy because staff can speak more quietly.
Improved Health for Everyone in Contact with the Acoustical Environment
Adverse acoustical conditions have negative physiological ramifications. Reducing exposure to loud, grating, or repetitive sounds can help patients heal and can be a crucial part of promoting a healing environment. Quieter work conditions also reduce stress, headaches, and anxiety.
Solutions Design for Acoustics in Healthcare Environments
Choosing the right acoustical components for a medical application is essential. Sound technicians can add acoustic insulation behind exterior covers to dampen internal vibrations and noise pollution caused by medical equipment. While the external covers protect the internal machinery from contamination, air exposure, and damage, the covers also provide the right surface area to install acoustical absorbers. Large equipment such as blood analyzers, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) chambers, and oxygen concentrators can all benefit from acoustic insulation without suffering any loss of performance.
The search for high-quality acoustical components is not the only important factor to take into consideration, but finding the correct manufacturers is vital as well. You do not just need a solution that absorbs, blocks, and isolates sound, but you need solutions designed and developed by a manufacturer to match every specification. The quality of these solutions is only as superior as its manufacturer.
This is especially important for medical equipment that continuously runs near patients. Patients staying in the hospital overnight or for long periods of treatment need to have calm, quiet conditions. Reducing ambient noise levels by insulating the nearby operating machinery creates patient-specific health benefits such as:
- Better sleep
- Improved general safety
- Superior quality of communication
- Lowered blood pressure
- Reduced stress and anxiety
- Less demands for pain medication
Does Your Equipment Require Noise Reduction?
Most medical environments can benefit from noise reduction technology. These locations become safer and more hospitable for both patients and medical professionals when there is less noise and vibration.
At Technicon Acoustics, we’re here to help with all of your sound control needs. We offer the following healthcare acoustic control products:
Acoustic Absorbers
Once sound leaves a device, it becomes airborne. Our acoustic absorbers muffle this airborne noise by absorbing the soundwaves. We produce porous acoustic foams, also known as sound-proof or sound-absorbing foam. This foam comes in a variety of thicknesses and facings.
Our team can customize acoustic absorbing layers to target the specific frequencies of the noise pollution in your application. By adding this material to surfaces that can reflect sound, you can control the total ambient noise within a space.
Acoustic Barriers
While acoustic absorbers control noise within a given space, acoustic barriers contain the sound so it doesn’t spread in the first place. We’ve carefully designed our barriers to stop the transmission of soundwaves. By using acoustic de–couplers—which interrupt the transfer of the sound through media—and acoustic absorbers, you can control sound in and out of specific areas. We can also design our barriers with composite materials that perform all of these functions simultaneously.
Sound Control Solutions from Technicon Acoustics
If your medical facility is too loud or the sound of the on–site equipment is interfering with patient and employee health, contact us today or request a quote for help creating a custom noise reduction solution that perfectly fit your environment.
