Table II.

Types of sound environment by room type

	Room type	Mean (h:min) ± SD	Difference between rooms (h:min) or decibels or number of words
Amount of time spent with meaningful language (in a 16-h period)
Birth (n = 52)	Private room	0:08 ± 0:09	0:02
	Open ward	0:06 ± 0:07
30 wk (n = 50)	Private room	0:06 ± 0:05	0
	Open ward	0:06 ± 0:05
34 wk (n = 48)	Private room	0:17 ± 0:19	0:01
	Open ward	0:16 ± 0:21
Term (n = 44)	Private room	0:35 ± 0:25	0:04
	Open ward	0:31 ± 0:23
Amount of time spent with distant language (in a 16-h period)
Birth (n = 52)	Private room	1:44 ± 1:27	0:17
	Open ward	1:27 ± 1:31
30 wk (n = 50)	Private room	0:36 ± 0:29	−0:56
	Open ward	1:32 ± 1:27
34 wk (n = 48)	Private room	0:57 ± 0:46	−0:14
	Open ward	1:11 ± 0:45
Term (n = 44)	Private room	0:35 ± 0:57	−0:39
	Open ward	1:14 ± 0:49
Amount of time spent with electronic sounds (in a 16-h period)
Birth (n = 52)	Private room	0:57 ± 1:11	0:01
	Open ward	0:56 ± 1:36
30 wk (n = 50)	Private room	0:50 ± 0:58	−1:07
	Open ward	1:57 ± 2:01
34 wk (n = 48)	Private room	1:25 ± 1:33	−1:59
	Open ward	3:24 ± 4:23
Term (n = 44)	Private room	2:31 ± 2:10	−2:50
	Open ward	5:19 ± 3:16
Amount of time spent with noise (in a 16-h period)
Birth (n = 52)	Private room	6:35 ± 6:04	−3:58
	Open ward	10:33 ± 6:24
30 wk (n = 50)	Private room	6:42 ± 5:51	0:54
	Open ward	5:48 ± 5:12
34 wk (n = 48)	Private room	6:33 ± 5:32	2:13
	Open ward	4:20 ± 4:33
Term (n = 44)	Private room	2:02 ± 3:09	0:25
	Open ward	1:37 ± 1:15
Amount of time spent in silence (in a 16-h period)
Birth (n = 52)	Private room	6:35 ± 5:01	3:36
	Open ward	2:59 ± 4:03
30 wk (n = 50)	Private room	7:45 ± 5:22	1:08
	Open ward	6:37 ± 4:25
34 wk (n = 48)	Private room	6:48 ± 5:20	0
	Open ward	6:48 ± 4:26
Term (n = 44)	Private room	10:17 ± 3:59	3:00
	Open ward	7:17 ± 2:55
Average decibels
Birth (n = 52)	Private room	58.9 ± 4.2	−4.3
	Open ward	63.2 ± 4.4
30 wk (n = 50)	Private room	58.9 ± 5.0	0.7
	Open ward	58.2 ± 1.4
34 wk (n = 48)	Private room	58.1 ± 4.2	−0.7
	Open ward	58.8 ± 2.9
Term (n = 44)	Private room	56.1 ± 2.5	−2.0
	Open ward	58.1 ± 1.9
Highest decibel stimulus
Birth (n = 52)	Private room	87.0 ± 1.3	0.5
	Open ward	86.5 ± 1.1
30 wk (n = 50)	Private room	86.0 ± 1.4	−1.0
	Open ward	87.0 ± 1.3
34 wk (n = 48)	Private room	86.9 ± 1.3	−0.2
	Open ward	87.1 ± 1.6
Term (n = 44)	Private room	87.3 ± 1.2	0.2
	Open ward	87.1 ± 1.3
Number of spoken words around the infant
Birth (n = 52)	Private room	639.1 ± 671.4	61.0
	Open ward	578.1 ± 892.2
30 wk (n = 50)	Private room	696.2 ± 835.5	252.2
	Open ward	444.0 ± 451.9
34 wk (n = 48)	Private room	2110.7 ± 3030.9	−241.1
	Open ward	2351.8 ± 3349.8
Term (n = 44)	Private room	4987.2 ± 3721.4	−198.3
	Open ward	5185.5 ± 4162.3