Hospital soundscape: Acoustics evaluation in the intensive care unit of a National Hospital in Central Jakarta, Indonesia

An intensive care unit requires a noise-free environment to accommodate the need of high precision for the workers in order to increase the work efficiency. In contrary, there are only few researches which focus on the long term impact of noisy wards to the workers. According to soundscape study, not all the sources of sound can be nullified because some sources are considered as important. This study assesses the acoustic condition of an intensive care unit in a national hospital located in Central Jakarta, Indonesia, from both objective and subjective aspects via measuring the noise levels and the nurses' questionnaires. Result shows that the acoustic condition of the intensive care unit mentioned above does not perform well, as the noise levels exceed the maximum limit suggested by World Health Organization and Ministry of Health of Indonesia, not to mention that the acoustic condition is marked as bad based on the opinion of the nurses. The improvements that can be applied to significantly lower the noise levels in the intensive care unit include installation of absorber and diffusor panels at the ward's ceiling, replacement of ceiling and wall materials, relocation of the nurse station, and rearrangement of patients with ventilators.