Incubator Acoustics

Acoustic Studies of Noise and Music Inside the Incubator

Preterm infants often spend several weeks or months in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Their acoustic environment differs substantially from that in the womb. Medical equipment, respiratory support, alarms, and handling of the incubator can produce high sound levels and mask meaningful sounds such as speech or music.

This interdisciplinary research investigates sound levels, frequency spectra, acoustic features, and resonances inside and outside neonatal incubators. The studies show that an incubator does not simply protect against noise. While some high-frequency sounds are attenuated, low frequencies can be strongly amplified by resonances inside the incubator. Sounds generated within the incubator may therefore be louder for the infant than they appear to staff or family members outside.

The project aims to identify acoustic risk factors and contribute to a safer and more supportive auditory environment for preterm infants.

Project Pages

  • Living in a Box
    Sound levels, acoustic features, and resonances inside and outside a neonatal incubator.

  • The Incubator Experience
    How speech, music, and environmental sounds are perceived inside an incubator. Includes audio recordings, an interactive 360° experience, and media reports.

Research Topics

  • Sound levels inside and outside neonatal incubators
  • Frequency spectra and psychoacoustic sound features
  • Resonances within the incubator cavity
  • Comparison of A-weighted and unweighted sound levels
  • Noise generated by respiratory support and ventilation systems
  • Transmission and masking of speech and music
  • Strategies for reducing potentially harmful noise

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Giordano, V., Mandl, S., Bartha-Doering, L., Reuter, C., Bertsch, M., Wildner, B., Stummer, S., Klebermass-Schrehof, K., Maeder, M., Berger, A., & Deindl, P. (2026). What’s that noise—Tackling sound pollution in the NICU: A systematic review. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 14, 1798036. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2026.1798036

Stummer, S., Reuter, C., Czedik-Eysenberg, I., Bertsch, M., Klebermass-Schrehof, K., Mader, J., Buchmayer, J., Bartha-Doering, L., Berger, A., & Giordano, V. (2024). “Every breath you take”: Evaluating sound levels and acoustic characteristics of various neonatal respiratory support and ventilation modalities. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 12, 1379249. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2024.1379249

Reuter, C., Bartha-Doering, L., Czedik-Eysenberg, I., Maeder, M., Bertsch, M. A., Bibl, K., Deindl, P., Berger, A., & Giordano, V. (2023). Living in a box: Understanding acoustic parameters in the NICU environment. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 11, 1147226. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2023.1147226

Bertsch, M., Reuter, C., Czedik-Eysenberg, I., Berger, A., Olischar, M., Bartha-Doering, L., & Giordano, V. (2020). The “Sound of Silence” in a neonatal intensive care unit—Listening to speech and music inside an incubator. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1055. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01055

Conference Contributions and Presentations

Maeder, M., Giordano, V., Bartha-Doering, L., Deindl, P., Bertsch, M., Berger, A., & Reuter, C. (2021). Vibroacoustic analysis of an incubator: Simulations and experiments. Paper presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Neonatology and Pediatric Intensive Care Medicine (GNPI), online.

Maeder, M., Giordano, V., Bertsch, M., et al. (2021). Verantwortungsethik als gesamtheitliche Aufgabe bei der Behandlung von Frühgeborenen. In H. Waubke & P. Balazs (Eds.), Fortschritte der Akustik: DAGA 2021. German Acoustical Society.

Reuter, C., Maeder, M., Bertsch, M., et al. (2021). The preterm baby in the bass booster: Zur Frage der A-Bewertung bei Pegelmessungen in Inkubatoren. In H. Waubke & P. Balazs (Eds.), Fortschritte der Akustik: DAGA 2021. German Acoustical Society.

Bertsch, M., Czedik-Eysenberg, I., Giordano, V., et al. (2019). Listening to the “Sound of Silence” in an incubator, a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) [Abstract]. International Symposium on Performance Science, Melbourne, Australia.

Bertsch, M., Czedik-Eysenberg, I., Reuter, C., et al. (2019). “Living in a Box”—Wie laut ist es im Brutkasten? [Poster]. International Noise Awareness Day 2019, Institute of Acoustics, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.