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Annoying hospital beeps are causing hundreds of deaths a year
Hospital workers hear up to 1,000 alarm noises per shift, and that sensory overload is costing hundreds of lives. New research suggests there's a fix that could make a significant difference – while also making key equipment far less annoying.
As a former ICU nurse, I've experienced the relentless blaring of alarms from patient monitors, IV pumps, ventilators, and dialysis machines first-hand. Since 2015, Joseph Schlesinger and Michael Schutz, two of the study’s authors, have been examining how timbres might allow softer sounds to command the attention of busy medical personnel. They found that sounds with ‘percussive’ timbre containing short bursts of high-frequency energy (think clinking wine glasses) stand out, even at low volume.
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