Assessment of factors affecting speech in ICU wards

This project investigated room acoustic metrics including reverberation time (T20), clarity (C50), and the speech transmission index (STI) via impulse response measurements in a laboratory furnished to resemble a 4 bed ICU ward. A total of 12 treatment configurations were tested including combinations of ceiling tiles, wall absorbers, and different screen types placed between the beds. Given that ICU wards have characteristics of ordinary rooms yet function as workplaces similar to open plan offices, the spatial decay of speech (D2,S) from ISO 3382-3 was also evaluated. An investigation into the speech privacy conditions was also performed. Overall, suitable reverberation times as per the Danish Building Standards (BR18) were achieved for some cases when used in conjunction with the suspended ceiling. Greater levels of treatment also resulted in an improvement in the
intelligibility and clarity. However when assessing these setups under ISO 3382-3 parameters none of the setups would have been classified as ’good’.