Hello, I'm Chris Smith & President of Sonicu LLC.  Sonicu manufactures sound monitoring, data collection, archiving, trending, data analysis and behavior modification systems for use in Neonatal Intensive care units and anywhere sound matters.  We're located in Anderson Indiana and manufacture in the USA.  If you have stories about your NICU or other information relative sound monitoring & sound control, I encourage you to blog here.  We care about neonatal units and are capable of providing the right monitoring and control system for you.  
Thank you for checking us out. 

Regards,
Chris Smith

Here's a picture of me and my son-Sean.  Sean was born 3lbs 2oz. and spent just over a month in a NICU getting ready to come home.  He is the inspiration behind Sonicu.  It was during Sean's NICU stay that I truly realized how precious life was and how wonderful the doctors and nurses were in NICUs. 
They and their patients truly deserve the best of care.

Here's a study published in December of 2007 and was undertaken in Brazil.  The findings suggest periodic monitoring of environments be established to accurately determine levels and implement a control strategy.  I suggest "Real Time monitoring 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year via "SONICU" is optimal.  Here's the concluding paragraph from the study.

....Considering the sound pressure high levels found in the study and their deleterious effects on newborns and the health team, the results point out the need to include interventions targeting the routine of equipment maintenance and the attitude of relatives and professionals through continuing educational programs. Monitoring of sound pressure levels should be done periodically, in the morning, in the afternoon and at night and on different days of the week.

>>> LINK <<<

Here is another study, this time conducted by the American Academy of Pediactrics.  It is titled "Noise: A Hazard for the Fetus and Newborn."

..... "Many studies have documented hearing loss in children cared for in the NICU (NICU graduates)." .....

A recent survey sponsored by MedImmune, the makers of Synagis, shows worrisome gaps in health care provided to preemies. MedImmune surveyed 202 neonatologists and pediatricians about current attitudes and practices when caring for the specialized health needs of preterm infants. Sadly, 70% of respondents felt that the health care system in the US failed place enough emphasis on or dedicate enough resources to preventive health care for preemies.

Luckily, Sonicu monitoring equipment has the potential to help the U.S. obtain a better reputation of health care for preemies.

An independent study conducted by the American Institute of Physics tried to find out whether differences in sound levels occurred near babies who are more/less premature.  Here is the research abstract:

We conducted sound surveys in a large state of the art NICU with six separate rooms devoted to the sickest babies requiring the most intensive care (Level III) and six rooms devoted to babies requiring special but less intensive care (Level II). Each room was capable of caring for up to 8 babies. Additionally, there were 8 individual Isolation rooms. We used Larson Davis Spark squflg 703+ dosimeters to record 21 week long sound surveys, seven in each type of room. The American Academy of Pediatrics (1997) has recommended that sound levels in NICUs should never exceed 45 dB(A). That recommendation was exceeded 73.6% of the time in Level II, 92.1% of the time in Isolation, and 96.6% of the time in Level III. Sound levels were lowest in the Level II rooms especially for the softest sounds recorded (L90 and L70). Level III rooms were noisiest except for the noisiest decile of sound (L10). Isolation rooms were noisiest at the highest sound levels (probably because of their reverberant construction materials and enclosed space). Autocorrelation functions were calculated identifying periodic components in all three rooms at about 12 and 24 hrs. Periodic variations were very small compared to random sound variations.

The Indianapolis Star recently ran a story on the front page of the Business section about Sonicu and my monitoring equipment.  I was excited to get the somewhat mainstream attention for Sonicu neonatal instruments.

Deaconness Hospital - Newburgh, IN (Division of Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis) seems pleased with their Sonicu system.  The following article lists some benefits the hospital has noted, including better rest for babies and stress reduction overall.  Click here for the story

There was a recent article run in neonatal Intensive Care: The Journal of Perinatology-Neonatology about Sonicu.  The article describes what my audio monitor does and called the Sonicu system the "first fully networked and integrated sound monitoring and advisory system for the NICU and other environments where excessive noise levels are a problem."

One of the latest systems we've installed was for Community Hospital North. 
They are a part of the Community Health Network

The hospital installed sound monitoring units (Sonicu System) in its neonatal units to alert staff and family members when the decibel level exceeds the threshold considered safe for developing preemies. A yellow light cautions that the sound is approaching dangerous levels and a red light calls for quiet. >> Web Article <<

They're one of many hospitals who've chosen Sonicu for their audio monitoring and control needs

While concerns regarding the effects of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) sound environment have primarily centered on infants, caregivers are exposed to the same auditory stimuli. In a review of the literature on adult responses to sound, behavioral and physiological responses to sound as well as influence on job performance and communication are examined. Hearing damage among caregivers is unlikely given the sound levels of the typical NICU. The effect of the NICU sound environment on caregivers has received little attention in research; however, findings from other researches of responses to sound suggest that a variety of physiological and behavioral responses may occur in response to the NICU sound environment, and that the sound intensity of the NICU may interfere with communication and job performance. Journal of Perinatology 2000; 20:S94-S99.

>> Article Link <<

Here's an interesting article about how excessive noise effects not only babies in NICUs but also those who care for them.  You might think all the baby monitoring systems and monitoring devices in a typical NICU would be all that's required to facilitate good care.  Here's proof more is needed for proper speech communication.  Did the care giver hear the right dose?

Environmental noise is a major source of stressful stimulation that can agitate and further complicate medical management of the neonate (Graven, 2000)....

During this same time, a multidisciplinary group of physicians, nurses, and researchers formed the Physical and Developmental Environment of the High-Risk Infant Center Study Group on NICU Sound to develop recommendations for practice based on sound research evidence. Specific to the NICU environment, the recommendations included the development of a program of noise control to maintain nursery sound levels at or below the recommended noise criteria and care practices to allow parent-infant interaction (Graven, 2000).

>> Story Link <<

The information in this article is a few years old but just as relative today as it was in 2001.  Clearly maintaining some type of monitoring device to assure babies are protected from excessive noise is called for.

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) design standards have been around for a while now.  Two of the standards I'm most concerned with are for controlling Noise and Sound.  This standard does a good job setting the limits but it's often up to the individual NICU to determine how best to comply.  In addition, design engineers need to "design in" both the acoustics & proper lighting control to assure the best results can be achieved. 

Standard 23: Acoustic Environment
Standard 14: Ambient Lighting in Infant Care Areas

Standard Link >>> Design Standards <<<

There are several products available to assist in meeting or exceeding these standards.  Sonicu ( www.sonicu.net ) is the best system on the market today to control and give feedback for compliance to both of these standards.  When monitoring your NICU, you should seriously consider Sonicu.

Chris Smith

Here's a great story recently aired on the CBS Evening News about Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) and their efforts to treat pain in tiny infants.  Katie Couric leads into the story & Sanjay Gupta is reporting from the NICU.  Not only does the story touch on a subject that's near and dear to my heart (Preemies and their environment) but it also touches on some of the equipment & monitors being used to mitigate pain for these little ones. 
Having witnessed first hand the effects lighting and sound can have on babies subjected to this type of environment, it's great to see the media covering topics of this importance.  My product (Sonicu - www.sonicu.net ) was developed by me to minimize two aspects of a baby's environment while in a NICU.  Sound monitoring & lighting control are the two primary focuses of Sonicu and can be successfully controlled once implemented to rectify some of the things noted in this article. 

I was surprised to hear how premature births have increased 20% since 1990 & how that equates to an additional 500,000 births/year ending up in a NICU.  It's great to see Neonatal product and services being directed to making a difference.  Having had a child in a NICU, I can attest to the wonderful care these doctors and nurses extend to care for little babies. 

I hope to hear more about this issue in the future & am glad to see it given the attention it deserves.

Chris Smith