Noise control in hospitals: considerations on regulations, design and real situations

Hospitals include a variety of different spaces with different requirements and levels of sensitivity but also different activities and equipment that can cause high noise levels. Despite the regulations that usually apply to hospitals, noise control is not an easy task. In the paper, we analyse the various situations and evaluate the applicability of the legislation. From experimental measurements performed in real cases, some methodological proposals are reported both to ensure the satisfaction of the requirements imposed by the legislation and to meet the needs for more specific acoustic regulations for hospital.