Articles

Healthcare

Medical institutions have a unique problem – they require high levels of soundproofing to support concentration and speech intelligibility. Further, hospitals require a level of patient privacy. The problem is so severe that a HIPAA standard has been promulgated.

A related issue plagues medical institutions that are located directly next to highways, major roadways, airports and train tracks. Some have unique issues, e.g. critical surgical or ICU facilities, noisy MRI rooms etc.

Achieving high STC ratings for walls and ceilings has traditionally been too costly and risky – until now. Serious Energy offers medical institutions a complete line of high-performance products to soundproof walls and ceilings. The installation can be easily done either at time of new construction or as a rehab project.

Hospitals occasionally specify resilient channels, hats and clips to try to achieve STC 45. A word of caution: these techniques are famous for failing. Acoustical engineers estimate failure rates of 50% during installation, and a financially dangerous 90% within three years due to “improvements”. A simple installation of a shelf, in-room TV stand or other wall attachment can destroy a resilient channel installation.

The most effective way to mitigate noise in medical institutions is to (i) identify and measure the noise source, both internal and external; (ii) set a dB goal for the desired level of quiet, and translate that goal into the appropriate Sound Transmission Class using the formula “dB in noisy area minus dB desired in quiet area = required STC”; (iii) select and specify the appropriate QuietRock model for your project.