By Sean Zucker –
There are a few things that are unavoidable in hospitals. Think of the sight of stressed doctors, the smell of disinfectant and the annoying drone of medical devices. The first two probably aren’t going away any time soon. The good news is that researchers are making progress in subduing the latter. Ultimately, these healthcare facilities may soon sound a bit more musical, perhaps making hospitals more pleasant and effective.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and McMaster University in Ontario recently unveiled findings that could transform the auditory landscape of hospitals. Specifically, they revealed that a musical timbre can significantly diminish the perceived annoyance of standard medical devices without compromising the alarm’s effectiveness. This was accomplished by testing reactions to synthesized xylophone sounds against the sounds used in common medical equipment alarm systems.
“The xylophone creates a richer acoustic profile closer to musical instruments than the beeps and buzzes we often hear in hospitals,” noted Joseph Schlesinger II, the study’s co-author. “This musical quality turns out not to get in the way of quick identification.”
Schlesinger and his team recruited 44 volunteers for the research. Each individual was tasked with learning to identify six short alarm melodies in both the standard and xylophone timbres before rating the experience. The volume and pitch were consistent throughout all sounds to minimize the impact of other factors. The only change was made in timbre, which is defined as the tone and quality of a particular sound.
In the end, the participants accurately recognized all melodies similarly. However, they overwhelmingly rated the musical xylophone sounds as less annoying compared to the classic medical timbre. “This result demonstrates an opportunity to address a pervasive complaint about medical alarms without compromising patient safety,” Schlesinger added.
This research comes on the heels of a prior study regarding alarm devices and their effectiveness. A team at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine looked at how medical alarms were perceived in real time and the results were troubling. The research discovered that a mere 15 percent of alarms in critical care units were clinically relevant or effective. A large number of false alarms were also occurring, leading to what they called ‘alarm fatigue’. This resulted in a widespread desensitization to the sounds that created subsequent missed alarms.
“Beeps feel like sensory overload, while more natural sounds are less abrasive,” Schlesinger explained. “Shaping timbre to follow musical principles allows alarms to cut through background noise without being uncomfortably loud or shrill. With further testing, musically informed alarms could become a standard part of patient care.”
The Chicago study itself was in response to a report by The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that linked over 500 deaths with ineffective hospital alarms between 2005 and 2010. That amounts to roughly 50 deaths per year, many of which may be attributed to annoyance and desensitization, which was suggested by the Vanderbilt University and McMaster University study.
WellWell has also previously reported on the calming benefits of music so to think these tunes might reshape the efficiency of medical equipment isn’t a huge stretch.
