ACOUSTICS
Reducing noise in today’s intensive care units
Four Master’s students in Mechanical/Electronic Engineering at the University of Portsmouth have recently undertaken a project looking at ‘excessively high’ noise levels in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Here they report on the findings of their research – which included surveying the public – and highlight a number of potential active and passive control measures to take to make such environments quieter and more ‘calming’.
The aim of this project is to consider this problem, and to propose methods to reduce the levels of noise in ICUs through an approach combining acoustical modelling and analysis of sources of sound and environment in ICU. This can in turn lead to development and implementation of carefully designed and targeted passive and active noise control methods in the second stage of the project. As a multidisciplinary group of Master’s students at the University of Portsmouth, we worked on this project as a part of our final year, ‘Multidisciplinary Group Project’ module.
Noise levels in intensive care units (ICUs) in hospitals are generally excessively high. In many cases measured noise levels many times exceed those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).1
Noise source
x (n) –reference (input) signal e (n) – error signal y (n) – output signal
Zone of silence ~λ/2
Reference microphone
Cancelling loudspeaker
Error microphone
x(n)
ANC controller
y(n)
e(n)
Figure 1: Active noise control to create a ‘Zone of silence’.
A ’somewhat unconventional model’ Group Project is the module on the fourth year of the MEng studies on two Engineering schools at the University of Portsmouth. The aim of this somewhat unconventional module is to prepare students for (almost) real work situations, requiring them to work in interdisciplinary
groups – mirroring industry working practice – and demonstrate accomplishment of a wide range of non-technical (soft) skills that companies demand, such as teamwork, critical thinking, progress reporting, communication skills, meeting times, division of responsibilities, presentations, and managing risks. Running throughout the second semester of the final year of studies, it is meant to
Branislav Vuksanovic
Dr Branislav Vuksanovic, Senior lecturer at the School of Energy and Electronic Engineering at the University of Portsmouth, who facilitated the production of this article, graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in Electrical and Power Engineering. He also holds an MSc degree in Measurement and Instrumentation from London South Bank University, and a PhD in Active Noise Control from the University of Huddersfield. He previously worked as a project
engineer for the Croatian Electricity Board in Osijek, Croatia. His academic career has seen him work as a Research Fellow at both Sheffield and Birmingham Universities on biomedical signal and image processing projects. He has published papers in the field of active noise control, biomedical signal processing, and pattern recognition in acoustics, geophysical signal processing, and internet security. A member of the IET, his current research interests are in the application of pattern recognition techniques for power systems and analysis of ground-penetrating radar and ECG data.
be a challenging, original, and usually a multidisciplinary, design project. The results of the project are demonstrated during the University’s annual Projects Day at the Faculty of Technology. This is a unique opportunity for students to showcase their major projects. Final-year student projects, as well as multidisciplinary group projects covering a range of disciplines – including mechanical, electronic, and petroleum engineering, and product and industrial design – are presented via posters and various ‘demos’ during the Project Day, with a number of industrial and academic visitors interacting with students, and discussing their projects, achievements, and problems encountered, during their work on the project.
Project team and tasks
The Group Project team was made up of one mechanical and three electronic engineering students. Students were further split into smaller teams to research, propose, and, if possible, implement, methods to combat excessive noise issues employing both passive and active means of noise control. The passive noise control team studied methods to develop an acoustic model of the ICU room, and design the reflecting and/or
October 2019 Health Estate Journal 25
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