The health impacts of noise pollution on patients and workers features in our last article. Continuing on, we tackle the privacy and workplace implications of noise pollution.

Privacy breaches

An important factor in patient comfort is privacy. Where patients feel that their medical information is private, they are more likely to disclose all relevant information to treating doctors or other health professionals. The converse is true, as per this 2001 study finding:

that 5 percent of the patients in curtained spaces reported they withheld portions of their medical history and refused parts of their physical examination because of lack of privacy.

While it may appear that noise pollution would increase patient privacy this is not the case. For example, the pollution itself is often the private conversation between staff or doctor and patient. It is therefore unsurprising that another study found 100 percent of doctors and health care workers committed confidentiality and privacy breaches in the ICU. Subsequent studies have shown confidentiality breaches are frequent and repeated.

Each jurisdiction has laws governing the collection and storage of health information. These generally require that healthcare providers protect the privacy of personal information. This includes when personal information is collected verbally. For example, when a patient checks in at reception or talks to a doctor during a consultation in a hospital room. 

While noise pollution may not directly impact speech privacy, eliminating noise can lead to speech privacy problems, particularly in new or retrofitted sustainable buildings where typically noise is reduced. It is therefore important that in any design considerations speech privacy and the health provider’s legal obligations are taken into account.

Australian Workplace Standards

Acoustic privacy is required in all healthcare facilities, and acoustic standards cover these requirements. For example, the Australian Standards recommend maximum noise levels in health buildings (listed in Table 1 below). 

Table 1:

HEALTH BUILDINGS	Recommended design sound level dB(A)		Recommended
Type of occupancy/ activity	Satisfactory	Maximum	Reverberation time
Casualty Areas	40	45	0.4 to 0.6
Corridors & Lobbies	40	50	0.4 to 0.6
Consulting rooms	40	45	0.4 to 0.6
Wards	35	40	0.4 to 0.7
Waiting rooms, Reception areas	35	50	0.4 to 0.7

These values are a pipe dream in a typical hospital where the average sound level is 72dB during the day and 60dB overnight. This is a striking comparison with the daytime 57dB and night time 42dB of a typical hospital in the 1960s.

Further, Australian workplace laws require healthcare facilities to observe due diligence requirements. What this means in respect of noise pollution, is that healthcare facilities need to carefully consider noise as a factor in design.

In our next article, we cover the solutions to these problems, including how to meet the recommendations.