Does hospital noise bother you?

Researchers are encouraging patients to advocate for quieter hospitals, as noise may interfere with the healing process. (iStock)

New research suggests that the hubbub of the average hospital, from beeping monitors to hallway chatter, may be interfering with patients' healing process.

Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen, sleep medicine chief at Massachusetts General Hospital, and researchers from Harvard and the Cambridge Health Alliance recorded different kinds of noise and its effects on healthy volunteers in a Boston community hospital.

They found, among other things, that

• Electronic sounds were the most likely to arouse people from sleep.
• Sleepers didn't always remember the disruptions, indicating that the problem may be underestimated.
• Intensive care units, where patients are the sickest, may be among the loudest wards.
• Sleep deprivation and the loss of normal sleep-wake cycles during certain hospitalizations can cause delirium -- a dangerous state of confusion and agitation -- especially among older people.

The team's research has raised larger questions about how sleep disruption interferes with recovery from illness.

Have you ever had trouble sleeping during a hospital stay? Do you think more needs to be done to reduce noise levels?

Share your thoughts in the field below.



(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)