Effect of the use of earplugs and eye mask on the quality of sleep in intensive care patients: a systematic review.

Intensive care unit (ICU) environment has a very strong and unavoidable negative impact on patients' sleep. Sleep deprivation in ICU patients has been already studied and negative effects on their outcome (prolonged ICU stay, decreased recovery) and complication rates (incidence of delirium, neuropsychological sequels of critical illness) discussed. Several interventions potentially improving the sleep disturbance in ICU (sleep-promotion strategies) have been assumed and tested for clinical practice. We present a review of recent literature focused on chosen types of non-pharmacological interventions (earplugs and eye mask) analysing their effect on sleep quality/quantity. From the total amount of 82 papers found in biomedical databases (CINAHL, PubMed and SCOPUS) we included the 19 most eligible studies meeting defined inclusion/exclusion criteria involving 1 379 participants. Both experimental and clinical trials, either ICU and non-ICU patient populations were analysed in the review. Most of the reviewed studies showed a significant improvement of subjective sleep quality when using described non-pharmacological interventions (objective parameters were not significantly validated). Measuring the sleep quality is a major concern limiting the objective comparison of the studies' results since non-standardised (and mainly individual) tools for sleep quality assessment were used. Despite the heterogeneity of analysed studies and some common methodological issues (sample size, design, outcome parameters choice and comparison) earplugs and eye mask showed potential positive effects on sleep quality and the incidence of delirium in ICU patients.

[Means and methods of acoustic protection in aviation: current status and outlook for development].

Analysis of the current status of acoustic protection in aviation shows that despite the material progress in the field, risk of professional pathologies in flying and technical personnel is still high. The situation is dramatized by the lack of effective personal and crew acoustic protectors. The authors speculate on applicability of innovative materials and technologies, ingenious designs of earphones and modular prefabricated demountable structures. Tests of proposed personal protectors demonstrated their competitiveness with foreign analogs. Prospective lines of development, e.g. incorporation of active sound absorption systems in existing passive protectors are discussed.

Trends in hearing protector usage in American manufacturing from 1972 to 1989.

This study investigated the trends in hearing protector use in United States manufacturing industries. Using data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-sponsored National Occupational Hazard Survey (1972), the National Occupational Exposure Survey (1983), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration-sponsored National Survey of Personal Protective Equipment Usage (1989), estimates were made of numbers of workers using hearing protection in various industries. Unique to this study is discussion of the impact of enactment of hearing conservation regulations during the same time frame as the two earlier surveys. In general, higher percentages of workers utilized hearing protection in 1989 than in 1972. Increased hearing protection use over time was also found when size of facility (number of employees) was taken into account. Differences in the use of hearing protection over the period 1972-1989 varied in individual industries, ranging from less than 10 to more than 30%.

Nuevos desarrollos en protección auditiva / New development in hearing protection

La protección auditiva personal sigue siendo un tema importante en la prevención del daño auditivo por el ruido, especialmente en el medio laboral y deportivo. Los protectores convencionales son una respuesta probadamente suficiente pra la mayoría de los casos, pero existen situaciones que requieren de protectores con dispositivos especiales que transformen la señal acústica que van a transmitir. La actual tecnología ofrece protectores no convencionales pasivos y activos, éstos últimos con sistemas electrónicos de procesamiento. Pueden actuar como filtros para determinadas frecuencias o bien cancelando la onda sonora por superposición contra onda en diferente fase. También se utilizan dispositivos para facilitar la comunicación entre portadores de protectores auditivos. Su utilidad es manifiesta pra las personas que requieren una audición precisa de señales de alarma, o bien del lenguaje oral, o si padecen de hipoacusia perceptiva con descenso de umbrales auditivos en las frecuencias agudas. Se analizan los métodos más modernos de evaluar la atenuación de los protectores, sus deficiencias y las ventajas comparativas, insistiendo en la necesidad de su conocimiento por parte de quienes deben indicar su uso dentro de un programa de conservación de la audición

Technology advancements in hearing protection circa 1995: active noise reduction, frequency/amplitude-sensitivity, and uniform attenuation.

Conventional hearing protection devices represent a mature technology that has been widely used since the late 1950s. When worn consistently and correctly such devices can provide suitable hearing protection in many, if not most noise-hazardous or aurally annoying situations. However, such devices have often been implicated in compromised auditory perception, degraded signal detection, and reduced speech communication abilities. In some instances this can create hazards for the wearer, or at the very least, resistance to use by those in need of hearing protection. Recent technological developments have been used to augment hearing protectors in an attempt to alleviate these problems for the user while providing adequate attenuation. Operational characteristics, design alternatives, performance data, and applications for active noise reduction, active sound transmission, frequency selectively, adjustable attenuation, amplitude sensitivity, and uniform attenuation features in hearing protectors are discussed, and recommendations are provided.