Cargando…

Research on Acoustic Environment in the Building of Nursing Homes Based on Sound Preference of the Elderly People: A Case Study in Harbin, China

Nursing homes are the facilities where the elderly conduct their daily activities. This may lead to a complicated acoustic environment which would potentially affect the ability of the elderly to function. In this study, the main indoor public space of a nursing home in Harbin was taken as the resea...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cui, Peng, Zhang, Jun, Li, Ting Ting
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8563576/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34744868
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.707457
_version_ 1784593433165299712
author Cui, Peng
Zhang, Jun
Li, Ting Ting
author_facet Cui, Peng
Zhang, Jun
Li, Ting Ting
author_sort Cui, Peng
collection PubMed
description Nursing homes are the facilities where the elderly conduct their daily activities. This may lead to a complicated acoustic environment which would potentially affect the ability of the elderly to function. In this study, the main indoor public space of a nursing home in Harbin was taken as the research object, and the methods of field observation, sound measurement, and questionnaire survey were used to explore the sound perception and preference of the elderly. The results revealed that in terms of the temporal and spatial distribution of sound pressure level (SPL), the unit living space had the highest SPL, which was above 60 dB (A). The reverberation time (RT) of the unit living space, medical and health care center corridor, was 2.15 and 2.13 s, respectively, at a frequency of 1,000 Hz, which was within the discomfort range. The results also revealed that an acoustic environment had a strong correlation with humidity and a weak correlation with temperature. However, no significant correlation could be assessed with a luminous environment. The elderly people were generally willing to accept the natural sound sources. The factors of gender and offspring numbers had no significant impact on the evaluation of acoustic environment comfort, whereas marriage and income status affected the comfort. This study may help improve the quality of life of the elderly in the nursing home and provide a reference for the construction and design of pension facilities.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8563576
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-85635762021-11-04 Research on Acoustic Environment in the Building of Nursing Homes Based on Sound Preference of the Elderly People: A Case Study in Harbin, China Cui, Peng Zhang, Jun Li, Ting Ting Front Psychol Psychology Nursing homes are the facilities where the elderly conduct their daily activities. This may lead to a complicated acoustic environment which would potentially affect the ability of the elderly to function. In this study, the main indoor public space of a nursing home in Harbin was taken as the research object, and the methods of field observation, sound measurement, and questionnaire survey were used to explore the sound perception and preference of the elderly. The results revealed that in terms of the temporal and spatial distribution of sound pressure level (SPL), the unit living space had the highest SPL, which was above 60 dB (A). The reverberation time (RT) of the unit living space, medical and health care center corridor, was 2.15 and 2.13 s, respectively, at a frequency of 1,000 Hz, which was within the discomfort range. The results also revealed that an acoustic environment had a strong correlation with humidity and a weak correlation with temperature. However, no significant correlation could be assessed with a luminous environment. The elderly people were generally willing to accept the natural sound sources. The factors of gender and offspring numbers had no significant impact on the evaluation of acoustic environment comfort, whereas marriage and income status affected the comfort. This study may help improve the quality of life of the elderly in the nursing home and provide a reference for the construction and design of pension facilities. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8563576/ /pubmed/34744868 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.707457 Text en Copyright © 2021 Cui, Zhang and Li. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Cui, Peng
Zhang, Jun
Li, Ting Ting
Research on Acoustic Environment in the Building of Nursing Homes Based on Sound Preference of the Elderly People: A Case Study in Harbin, China
title Research on Acoustic Environment in the Building of Nursing Homes Based on Sound Preference of the Elderly People: A Case Study in Harbin, China
title_full Research on Acoustic Environment in the Building of Nursing Homes Based on Sound Preference of the Elderly People: A Case Study in Harbin, China
title_fullStr Research on Acoustic Environment in the Building of Nursing Homes Based on Sound Preference of the Elderly People: A Case Study in Harbin, China
title_full_unstemmed Research on Acoustic Environment in the Building of Nursing Homes Based on Sound Preference of the Elderly People: A Case Study in Harbin, China
title_short Research on Acoustic Environment in the Building of Nursing Homes Based on Sound Preference of the Elderly People: A Case Study in Harbin, China
title_sort research on acoustic environment in the building of nursing homes based on sound preference of the elderly people: a case study in harbin, china
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8563576/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34744868
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.707457
work_keys_str_mv AT cuipeng researchonacousticenvironmentinthebuildingofnursinghomesbasedonsoundpreferenceoftheelderlypeopleacasestudyinharbinchina
AT zhangjun researchonacousticenvironmentinthebuildingofnursinghomesbasedonsoundpreferenceoftheelderlypeopleacasestudyinharbinchina
AT litingting researchonacousticenvironmentinthebuildingofnursinghomesbasedonsoundpreferenceoftheelderlypeopleacasestudyinharbinchina