Acoustic environment research in pediatric ICU receives NWO funding

There is a gap in technological solutions that measure the quality of the acoustic environment perceived by humans and assess the impact of different sounds. In the context of children’s critical care this lack of knowledge can harm the health and wellbeing of infants, families, and nurses. 

IDE researchers Elif Ozcan Vieira and Jacky Bourgeois and Roberto Merino Martinez from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering will develop and implement novel algorithms to identify sound-producing events (e.g., speech, alarms, etc.) and automatically assess their perceived quality. The information will be represented on an integrated digital platform to increase nurses’ awareness and understanding of the ‘auditory footprint’ of different sounds and empower them to act to improve it.

Project lead Elif Ozcan Vieira: “As research in this field is still in its infancy, we are very happy to receive this grant. It gives us the ability to continue our work in developing technologies that will be used to design innovative solutions for measuring indoor soundscapes. Through our work, we aim to bring sound measurements in line with the human experience of soundscapes that defines moments, for example, of calmness, chaos, pleasure, or liveliness. This is a major step from measuring sounds in decibels towards characterising soundscapes and interpreting their effect on listeners.”