Beyond the Beep: Improving the Soundscape of Hospitals

Medical device alarm sounds have been implicated in hundreds of deaths annually. Curiously, although the technology within these life-saving devices has advanced rapidly, they appear to use the same simplistic sounds employed in early electronic devices. Today barriers to improving the sounds are no longer technical, but merely historical. Using insights from musical sounds, my team explores changes to auditory alerts with the potential for improving the quality of human computer interaction with hospital medical devices – a multi-billion dollar industry.   We have shown these approaches can increase their efficacy while decreasing annoyance, which is key to improving surgical outcomes, reducing physician burnout, and shortening hospital stays by aiding patient recovery.   For more information, view Dr. Schutz’s TEDx talk Death By Beep available at www.maplelab.net/ted.