noise pollution levels in different wards of golestan and fatemeh zahra hospitals, iran

in recent years noise has been well known as an environmental pollution. particularly its effects will be more serious in some environments including hospitals which patients need a calm and peaceful condition. this study aims to evaluate hospitals noise pollution level. this study is a cross-sectional study. noise measurements were made in all hospital wards in a workday and weekend from 8 to 22 by cel-450 sound level meter. data was analyzed using spss. mean noise level in golestan hospital was 74 db during studied days. mean level in all golestan hospital wards was more than 70 db, while mean noise level in fatemeh zahra hospital was about 53db. most of the noise sources were conversation, medical equipment and central and packaged air conditioner systems. noise intensity in both hospitals in all wards and most times was above standard and permissible levels. as the sources and level of hospital noise was recognized, we can design an introduction to reduce the noise to meet the standard levels.