Can it become too quiet in a nursing home?

That was one of the issues encountered by Associate Professor Marie Koldkjær Højlund and PhD student Sissel Raahede Lundgård, who research Sound Studies at the Department of Digital Design and Information Studies at Aarhus University, during their investigation of sound environments in nursing homes in Aarhus Municipality.

“We quickly discovered that it’s not just about reducing noise. It was almost too quiet in the nursing home. That awkward silence where you can almost hear people chewing during lunch,” explains Sissel Raahede Lundgård.

The issue is an example of what it means to work humanistically with sound design, where users’ experience of the sound environment is at the center.

It is this perspective that Marie Koldkjær Højlund and Sissel Raahede Lundgård will now contribute to an international working group on ISO standards—internationally recognized guidelines and requirements for products, processes, services, and management systems—within acoustics and soundscapes.

“So we tested different music playback solutions, for example live recordings from symphony orchestra concerts. The solution ended up being a music playback system with various playlists,” says Sissel Raahede Lundgård.

“We also collaborated with a nature photographer to livestream from a plot with North Jutland nature to a screen placed in front of a bench. The staff described how many of the residents could sit there for a long time and find a calm and focus they otherwise struggled with.”

We connect through sound

The international working group has traditionally been dominated by a technical approach focused on decibels and noise reduction, explains Sissel Raahede Lundgård. The members, who come from all over the world, are primarily acousticians and engineers.

There is now increasing focus in the group on sound design and on how sound environments shape our experience of a place. Here, it is crucial that the people involved are part of the design process. This concept and humanistic approach is what Marie Koldkjær Højlund and Sissel Raahede Lundgård call sonic citizenship.

“It’s an approach that’s about how we all participate in and connect acoustically to our surroundings. That’s what needs to be the focus when beginning a design process—whether it’s for a maternity ward or a nursing home,” explains Sissel Raahede Lundgård.

Good acoustics are an important part of good sound environments—but rarely sufficient on their own, the sound researcher elaborates:

“It’s not just about dampening what’s disturbing, but also about adding the sounds that create safety, presence, and meaning. At the same time, it is essential that the people who live and move within the sound environment have an active role in adjusting and regulating the solutions.”

For example, the playlist-based music system in the nursing home could be moved around with speakers among the residents. A flexible solution where both nursing home residents and staff could control the sound themselves.

“If someone wanted louder music, you could move the speaker closer to them, and those who wanted it quieter could move it farther away,” says Sissel Raahede Lundgård, and gives an example of less successful sound design:

“A bad example was someone who had created an installation in a nursing home where a sensor registered when someone sat on a bench. Then a melody started—I think it was 'Marken er mejet'. People were on the verge of going crazy after a short time because the song kept repeating.”

Solutions and noise from rolling tables

As new members of the international working group, the task for Marie Koldkjær Højlund and Sissel Raahede Lundgård is to incorporate sonic citizenship into the ISO standards.

Here, they can draw on experience from various research projects and sound design cases. Among other things, they have visited 45 nursing homes in Aarhus Municipality and investigated residents’ needs and challenges. Often, it was practical issues like rolling tables or chairs that made noise when pulled out that needed solutions.

“Our experiences from the different projects give us a foundation in the ISO group because we have actually been out in these nursing homes and seen and experienced it,” says Sissel Raahede Lundgård.

She looks forward to the work in the international working group.

“The new ISO standard focuses on creating more collaborative, co-creative processes, where we reinforce the idea that listening is a social and cultural practice. Experiencing that we are being listened to and can influence the process—and that they want our perspectives—is something I really appreciate.”

Contact:

Sissel Raahede Lundgård

PhD Student, Department of Digital Design and Information Studies

School of Communication and Culture

Aarhus University

Email: srl@cc.au.dk

Phone: +45 27 63 90 21

Marie Koldkjær Højlund

Associate Professor, Department of Digital Design and Information Studies

School of Communication and Culture

Aarhus University

Email: musmkh@cc.au.dk

Phone: +45 40 18 02 15