一重症心身障害児施設の病棟における生活音の実情と課題 : 生活音の音圧測定と職員アンケート結果による検討

I measured the acoustic pressure of the everyday sounds generated in the women\u27s mobile unit as well as the intensive care unit, which administers medical care to live-in patients ranging from infants, children, and students in a institution of children and persons with severe motor and intellectual disabilities (SMID) In addition, the research also includes a questionnaire on awareness of everyday sounds filled out by ward staffs. Results indicated that the residents and their staffs of the mobile ward experienced higher acoustic pressure levels than those living in the infant and toddler ward. It was found that the varying results also depended on the different characteristics of the wards. The environment was thereby presumed to be characterized by undesired noise, though intermittently. The results of the questionnaire indicated that approximately 75% of the ward staff who filled out the questionnaire had realized that the ward living environment was noisy, a result essentially corroborated in research on sound source and sound level measurements. Physical sounds such has human voices, footsteps, doors opening and closing, medical equipment, and so on, and other sounds that arose at unexpected times, were deemed an annoyance. A number of the staff feel that the everyday sounds in the wards are linked to problematic behavior and stress amongst the residents. Many of the respondents stated that they believed that the everyday sound levels could be reduced by improving equipment and taking steps to better handle equipment, i.e. that sound level management was an issue of staff awareness. This research indicates that, it is necessary to make the staff aware that their presence itself forms part of the environment of the wards, and that they must consciously take steps to facilitate a quieter environment