Effects of Live Music on the Perception of Noise in the SICU/PICU: A Patient, Caregiver, and Medical Staff Environmental Study

Intensive Care Units (ICUs) require a multidisciplinary team that consists of, but is not limited to, intensivists (clinicians who specialize in critical illness care), pharmacists and nurses, respiratory care therapists, and other medical consultants from a broad range of specialties. The complex and demanding critical care environment provides few opportunities for patients and personal and professional caregivers to evaluate how sound effects them. A growing body of literature attests to noise’s adverse influence on patients’ sleep, and high sound levels are a source of staff stress, as noise is an ubiquitous and noxious stimuli. Vulnerable patients have a low threshold tolerance to audio-induced stress. Despite these indications, peak sound levels often register as high, as can ventilators, and the documented noise levels in hospitals continue to rise. This baseline study, carried out in two hospitals’ Surgical and Pediatric Intensive Care Units, measured the effects of live music on the perception of noise through surveying patients, personal caregivers and staff in randomized conditions of no music, and music as provided by music therapists through our hospital system’s environmental music therapy program.