Hospital Beeps Linked to Hundreds of Deaths Yearly

Hospital staff are subjected to approximately 1,000 alarm sounds per shift, contributing to hundreds of preventable deaths. Recent research proposes a solution that not only reduces this sensory overload but also renders essential equipment less bothersome.

Anyone who has spent time in a hospital, whether as a patient or visitor, understands the frustration caused by constant beeping alarms. It’s challenging to avoid the noise regardless of where you are in the hospital. As a former ICU nurse, I’ve personally endured the continuous blaring of alarms from patient monitors, IV pumps, ventilators, and dialysis machines. To add to the frustration, these alarms often synchronize and sound simultaneously, in line with Murphy’s law.

A Critical Concern for Patient Safety

While critical for patient safety, healthcare professionals may encounter up to 1,000 alarms during a single shift. However, a study revealed that only 15% of alarms in critical care settings were clinically relevant. The excessive number of false alarms can result in ‘alarm fatigue’, a desensitization phenomenon stemming from sensory overload, which in turn can lead to missed alarms. According to the US FDA, there were 566 alarm-related deaths reported between 2005 and 2010.

Recognizing the significance of clinical alarms in healthcare, global standards were introduced to ensure consistency across manufacturers. As a result, many alarms now share similar characteristics in terms of sound quality, frequency, and tone. In a recent study, researchers explored the use of various musical sounds to enhance hospital alarms.

Since 2015, Joseph Schlesinger, an anesthesiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Michael Schutz, a music cognition researcher at McMaster University, have been exploring how different timbres can improve the effectiveness of medical alarms. Their research indicates that sounds with a ‘percussive’ timbre, featuring short bursts of high-frequency energy akin to clinking wine glasses, are more attention-grabbing, even at lower volumes. On the other hand, loud, ‘flat’ tones lacking high-frequency components, such as the drone of a truck’s reversing beep, tend to fade into the background.

Testing the Impact of Different Timbres on Alarm Perception

To validate their hypothesis, the researchers enlisted 42 participants aged 17 to 23 with normal hearing. They exposed the participants to six alarms: half using a standard timbre commonly found in medical devices and half using a new timbre inspired by the sound of a xylophone. The xylophone, recognized for its pleasant sound and distinctive percussive qualities, was chosen to enhance the alarms’ attention-grabbing potential. Participants rated their perceived annoyance and ability to recognize each alarm.

The study findings indicated that simply altering the timbre of the alarms notably decreased perceived annoyance. Participants found complex percussive timbres less bothersome in 88% of instances compared to the standard tones typically utilized in medical devices. Furthermore, they observed that alarms with melodious percussive timbres were no more challenging to identify than standard hospital beeps.

The researchers noted that their investigations demonstrated how musical timbres could significantly decrease perceived annoyance without compromising alarm learnability. This finding represents a promising advancement in alarm design, addressing concerns regarding excessive alarm sounds in medical devices.

Future studies will explore the impact of various timbres on other critical perceptual aspects, such as alarm detectability.

The researchers emphasized the potential of musically inspired alarm design to enhance patient monitoring, care, and safety, leveraging centuries of auditory innovation and extensive individual practice associated with musical instrument sounds.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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