Conference_programme: 18: Room acoustics

Lecture: Reviewing current standards on room acoustics in dementia care environments to establish a workable meaningful basis for informing future research.

Author(s): Harman Andrea

Summary:
Research and experience have shown noise to be challenging for many people with dementia, affecting their ability to filter sound, hear and understand speech, sleep and to process information. This has led people with dementia to endure increased anxiety and stress and a reduction in social interaction, increasing isolation. The UK Social Care Institute for Excellence states \n “Of all the senses, hearing is the one that has the most significant impact on people with dementia in terms of quality of life”\n\nBased on noise as a stressor, some room acoustic standards and guidance on reverberation time has evolved in this field; however the different guidance documents available vary in suggestions as to what constitutes best practice and there appears to be little research supporting the efficacy of the levels stated in the various pieces of guidance. \n\nAppreciating many health and care environments are extremely noisy and therefore improvements need to be made and aiming to make guidance more robust we propose a single set of values on which to base further research into the effects of noise on people with mild and moderate dementia in a care environment based on . \n• existing research into the effects of noise on people with dementia, including a literature review by Salford Univeristy. \n• evaluation and comparison of existing research and standards in this field \n• cross referencing best practice standards for sound absorption in other areas where people have a similar reaction to sound as those with dementia or a hearing or cognitive impairment \n

Corresponding author

Name: Ms Andrea Harman

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Country: United Kingdom