Healthcare facilities serve a diverse blend of occupants including frontline workers, patients, visitors, researchers and students in teaching hospitals. In the case of telemedicine, a healthcare facility may serve people beyond the immediate environment.
Across all of these settings, introducing design strategies to manage sound can support both patients and practitioners with more comfortable, better performing acoustic spaces. Below, we review some strategies for supporting acoustics in the design stage, and also offer thoughts on mitigating noise in existing spaces.