THE NOISE LEVEL IN A CHILDRENS HOSPITAL AND THE WAKE‐UP THRESHOLD IN INFANTS

One hundred and twenty‐six children, 3 to 63 weeks of age, have been exposed to a mixed noise (100‐7000 Hz) in intensities between 50 and 80 dB under steady conditions of room acoustic during different periods of time between 10.30 p.m. and 01.00 a.m. A noise level of 75 dB led to obvious sleep disturbance or waking‐up in ⅔ of the children after 3 minutes and in all after 12 minutes. The waking threshold according to these investigations is higher than in adults.