Yes / Tranquillity characterized by a pleasant but calming environment is often to be found in natural environments
where man-made noise is at a low level though natural sounds can be relatively high. Numerous
studies have shown a link between such restorative environments and hospital recovery rates, stress
reduction, longevity, pain relief and even how the brain processes auditory signals. In hospitals and primary
care facilities there is a need to improve patient waiting rooms as current designs are largely based
solely on medical need. There are often long waits in such spaces and patients are coping with the stress
and anxiety caused by their medical condition. Attention should therefore be given to creating ‘‘restorative
environment” as a component to their medical treatment. The study describes the effects of introducing
natural sounds and large images of natural landscapes into a waiting room in a student health center.
Using self reported levels of anxiety and tranquillity it was possible to assess the impact that these targeted
auditory and visual interventions had in affecting the quality of the patient experience. Following
the changes results show that levels of reported tranquillity were significantly improved but there were
smaller change in reported reductions in anxiety.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/7621 |
| Date | 11 November 2015 |
| Creators | Watts, Gregory R., Khan, Amir, Pheasant, Robert J. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Accepted Manuscript |
| Rights | © 2016 Elsevier. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. |
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