Acoustic guide for elderly care
Design for comfort, orientation and improved speech intelligibility
Elderly care environments share many similarities with healthcare facilities, while also presenting specific challenges related to age-related hearing loss, cognitive decline and the need for long-term comfort and wellbeing. Sound environments that are difficult to understand can increase anxiety, stress and social withdrawal among elderly residents.
Shared spaces such as living rooms, dining areas, activity rooms and kitchens are central to daily life in elderly care facilities. These areas often contain multiple sound sources, including conversations, tableware, household equipment and televisions. For people with hearing impairment, background noise and reverberation can significantly reduce speech clarity and listening comfort.
Private living spaces should feel safe, calm and personal. To support this, noise from adjoining rooms and corridors needs to be limited, and echoes should be reduced so conversations can take place at a natural speaking level.
Thoughtful acoustic design in elderly care supports communication, social interaction and a sense of security, while helping residents maintain independence and quality of life.
Acoustic challenges
- Reducing reverberation and overall sound levels
- Improving speech communication and listening comfort
- Ensuring privacy in shared and personal spaces
- Limiting sound propagation along corridors
- Reducing noise transfer from adjoining rooms
Solutions
- Install a sound-absorbing ceiling with high absorption across all frequences
- Pay particular attention to low-frequency performance (e.g. 125 Hz) to improve comfort for people with hearing loss
- Apply wall absorbers to improve speech clarity and reduce echoes
- Ensure appropriate sound insulation between rooms and towards corridors
Acoustic considerations
- Reverberation, sound levels, speech clarity and acoustic privacy
Product recommendations
- Ecophon Hygiene™
- Ecophon Focus™ A, Ds, E
- Ecophon Akusto™
- Ecophon Saga™
- Ecophon Clipso™
- Ecophon Solo™