Like a lot of people, I put off routine medical appointments during the first year of the pandemic. But then, medical experts voiced concerns that such delays could turn minor health issues into something major. I pushed aside my fear of COVID-19 exposure and scheduled a string of overdue exams, starting with a mammogram. There were nervous eyes on the faces of masked women in the waiting room. What made the experience especially irksome was the high-volume cooking program spewing from a television perched overhead. None of the patients were watching the show, but it was impossible to escape the sound. There was no television remote in the room and no way to mute the set. I happen to like cooking shows, but not in this setting. After so many quiet months at home, the noise was jarring. And there was no question that it increased the discomfort of the waiting room experience.
This wasn't my first unpleasant encounter with a waiting room television. Pre-pandemic, I arrived early for a brain MRI, a test that unsettles me. (I do this imaging every other year to monitor a meningioma.) That day, my plan to alleviate my anxiety was to close my eyes and meditate. But to my dismay, there was an overhead television in the waiting room, blaring Fox News. Given that I was the only patient there, I politely asked the receptionist if it might be possible to turn off the television. I was informed that this was not an option. By the time I was called in for the scan, my blood pressure was through the roof.
The Tip of the Iceberg
It turns out that a waiting room TV is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to unwanted sounds in medical settings. In healthcare facilities, noise is an ongoing problem. The elevated decibel levels in most hospitals affect both patients and staff, creating health hazards, says environmental psychologist Craig Zimring, PhD, an architecture professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who designs healthcare spaces.
"It's not just that noise is annoying," says Zimring, explaining that a sound-saturated medical center interferes with healing. He cites an example in intensive care units, where constant alarms may contribute to in critically ill patients. While, of course, alarms save lives, sometimes they go off for non-urgent reasons, scaring patients and their loved ones.
In the best of times, a loud racket can be disturbing. Now, as we try to recover from the worst of times, intrusive sounds are the last thing we need in our shell-shocked lives. On the other hand, listening to music or guided meditation through earbuds or headphones may help calm us before, say, a stressful medical visit.
"Positive sounds can relax us, energize us, or elicit whatever feelings and emotions we need to help us heal and move forward from this pandemic," says engineer Erica Ryherd, PhD, an associate professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, whose research focuses on solving acoustical challenges in hospitals.
The High Cost of Noise
It's well established that too much clamor isn't good for us. "If you live near an airport and think you've acclimated to the noise, the truth is, you have not. There's always a cost to acclimation. You might think you are ignoring that noise, but your physiology is not," says Les Blomberg, MA, executive director of the , a nonprofit that works to raise awareness about the societal and personal harm caused by unwanted sounds.
A Harvard School of Public Health found that older people who live close to airports have more hospital admissions for cardiovascular problems. The researchers noted that noise increases stress and blood pressure, both linked to heart disease. And other studies have found that continually exposed to loud sounds may be more prone to learning issues.
But striving for total silence isn't the goal, points out Ryherd. Her research has shown that ICU patients like subtle sounds, such as staff quietly working. She explains: "We want to reduce unwanted sound, but we want to protect or even generate soothing sounds."
Among the most comforting sounds in a hospital are parents' voices in neonatal intensive care units, where critically ill newborns are cared for. But sometimes the calming words are drowned out by cleaning equipment and loud staff conversations. In response to NICU nurses' concerns, Ryherd's team evaluated how scheduling periods with less noise affects vulnerable babies. The researchers found that help at-risk infants thrive.
"It's important to think about the sound environment, because we're seeing that it impacts us in a variety of ways, so we can't just ignore it," says Ryherd.
There's a lot of noise in the world that we can't control. And medical centers certainly have a wide range of sounds that come with the territory. But eliminating some unnecessary din -- such as waiting room televisions -- would be a gift to patients.
writes about health and culture and is the author of the 2019 book, . An updated edition of the book will be coming out in paperback in early 2022.