Incremental advances will improve medical device alarm sounds

Abstract

The March issue contains a laboratory study of auditory perception, which is an unusual topic for this journal. A perspective is provided on how the study relates to recent research on clinical auditory alarms and displays. Techniques used in the study are explored and explained, such as enrolment of non-clinician volunteer participants, use of coordinate response measure phrase stimuli, presentation of sound loudness levels using the decibel scale, and analysis using signal detection theory. Such efforts to improve the safety, efficacy, and tolerability of modern medical device alarms are critical for improved patient safety.

Keywords: alarms; auditory alarms; auditory perception; patient safety; signal detection theory.