Alarm Fatigue in the Perception of Medical Soundscapes
Invited paper
Plymouth University
Tuesday 2 june, 2015, 09:00 - 09:20
Auditorium 2 (592)
Abstract:
Medical alarms are typically associated with a wide range of problems, many of which are connected to the
design of the audible sounds themselves. In general, research on alarm sound tends to be occupied with
the link between acoustic features and the events being represented. The resulting integrated soundscape
experienced by medical personnel is largely ignored as a consequential by-product of this design process.
Alarm fatigue - the desensitisation to alarm sounds - is arguably caused by the traditional way of
approaching alarm design. Nevertheless, despite years of anecdotal comments on the phenomenon, there
is scant research on the fundamental causes of the problem. Most approaches to date have been
pragmatic, based on the premise that a reduction in the number of alarms is the “best medicine”. However,
this proposed solution is problematic for several reasons to be addressed.
Our study explores the potential benefits of re-thinking the alarm design process, making the subjective
soundscape of the user and the problems of perceptual organisation that they face the starting point of the
investigation and the main object to be designed. The exploratory study provides an integrated
understanding of alarm fatigue in healthcare environments from a first person perspective. The
implications of recent findings of individual differences in perceptual organisation, which can be related to
aspects of cognitive style, are considered within this framework.