Sound & Vibration 2.0: Design Guidelines for Health Care Facilities

This document was commissioned by the Facility Guidelines Institute as the sole reference for acoustics in health care facilities. It was written by the Health Care Acoustics Working Group, a permanent committee of the Acoustics Research Council (ARC), comprised of members of leading professional societies in acoustics, noise control engineering, acoustical consulting and related professions. ARC organized the health care Working Group in 2004-5 drawing its members from ten constituencies that range from medicine to law, public policy, architecture, design and engineering in order to provide constructive, guidance on sound and vibration based on research and best practices. Sound and Vibration 2.0 has been adopted as the sole reference standard for acoustics in health care facilities by: the 2010 FGI/ASHE "Guidelines for the Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities" (used in 60 countries); the US Green Building Council’s "LEED for Healthcare" (used in 87 countries); The Green Guide for Health Care V2.2; and the International Code Council's IGCC (2011).

Sound and vibration are topics of increasing prominence in the design, construction, and operation of healthcare facilities. A satisfactory acoustical environment in a healthcare facility is now viewed as an essential component of effective healthcare.

Sensible acoustical and privacy planning in the early design stages of a healthcare facility project can be solved effectively and affordably with a few strokes of the designer's pencil. The recommended minimum design requirements presented in this work are therefore intended to aid designers in achieving satisfactory acoustical and privacy environments in healthcare facilities. This handbook includes comprehensive, practical, and measureable guidelines for all aspects of acoustics in the design, construction, and evaluation of all types of healthcare facilities, including large general hospitals, specialized patient carefacilities, and ambulatory patient care facilities.

David Sykes, ASA, INCE is Executive Chair of ARC llc; Co-chair of ANSI S12 WG44; Delegation leader to the 2011 national summit on alarm fatigue; Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI); Co-director of LARA, the Laboratory for Advanced Research on Acoustics at RPI; and Special Advisor to the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan. Sykes organizes and ARC hosts the FGI Acoustics Working Group, a 520-member trans-disciplinary committee responsible for authoring the comprehensive acoustical guidelines for the Facility Guidelines Institute, the Green Guide for Health Care, LEED for Health Care, The International Green Building Code, the U.S. General Services Administration and other groups. ARC also publishes the sole reference standard for the publications cited above, called “Sound & Vibration Guidelines for Health Care Facilities.” Mr. Sykes has organized and secured funding for several research and development projects on acoustics, privacy and healthcare at Harvard Medical School and other institutions and has been published in two books from MIT Press.