Sleepless in the Hospital: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Test White Noise to Improve Inpatient Sleep for Older Adults

What the study found

Older inpatients had white noise played from 10 PM to 6 AM at an intervention level on one night and a sham level on the other. White noise cut the number of abrupt sound-level jumps of 17.5 dB or more (median 11 vs 24, p < .0001). Sleep fragmentation and self-rated sleep did not differ between nights: a null result for sleep.

Limitations

Small sample with heavy dropout (18 of 29 completed), and only one night per condition. Wrist actigraphy is a coarse measure of sleep fragmentation.

Neurodesign interpretation

Masking can smooth the hospital sound environment, but this trial gives no evidence that it improves patient sleep, so it should not be specified as a sleep intervention on this basis alone.

Possible design implications

None yet. Masking reduced measured noise peaks, but it should not be specified as a sleep intervention on this evidence.

Study design

Randomized controlled crossover trial (single-blind, sham-controlled)

Population

Hospitalized older adults, USA. Sample: 29 randomized, 18 completed both nights.

Setting

Real inpatient rooms with in-room sound meters

Field

Healthcare design, Sleep science, Acoustics + soundscape

Mechanism

Sleep disruption

Spatial variable

Background noise level, Bedroom noise

Keywords

background noise level, bedroom noise, sleep disruption

Notes and follow-up

Related records: ND-0012, ND-0018, ND-0077, ND-0102.