Relationships between sound pressure level, typical physiological parameters and perceptions of the elderly residents in aged care facilities in northeast China

Residential aged care facilities are places where the elderly conduct their daily activities, and different functional spaces result in various acoustic environments, and the role of sound quality is being increasingly recognized in the elderly's well-being. A series of surveys were conducted in 15 residential aged care facilities in northeast China, where the elderly's perception and physiological parameters were measured, to examine the relationships among the sound pressure level (SPL), the objective physiological indicators and the subjective evaluation of the elderly. The results revealed the influence of SPL on the elderly with different physical functions and had different degrees of correlation with the elderly's comfort votes. It is shown that the elderly with visual impairment have a higher demand for the acoustic environment. The elderly have a higher comfort value of the acoustic environment of the activity room. However, the fitting analysis between the comfort value and the SPL shows that 48dB is the critical value for the elderly to vote the comfort level of the bedroom acoustic environment, while the critical values of activity room, restaurant and rehabilitation room are 52 dB, 55 dB and 50dB respectively.