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Tytuł:
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Masking Between Reserved Alarm Sounds of the IEC 60601-1-8 International Medical Alarm Standard: A Systematic, Formal Analysis.
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Autorzy:
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Bolton ML; 12292 University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, USA.
Edworthy JR; 6633 University of Plymouth, United Kingdom.
Boyd AD; 14681 University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
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Źródło:
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Human factors [Hum Factors] 2022 Aug; Vol. 64 (5), pp. 835-851. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Dec 22.
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Typ publikacji:
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Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
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Język:
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English
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Imprint Name(s):
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Publication: Santa Monica, Ca : Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
Original Publication: New York, N.Y. : Pergamon Press, 1958-4
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MeSH Terms:
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Clinical Alarms*
Humans ; Monitoring, Physiologic ; Sound
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Grant Information:
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R18 HS024679 United States HS AHRQ HHS
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Contributed Indexing:
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Keywords: audition; computational modeling; medical devices and technologies; patient safety; psychophysical methods
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Entry Date(s):
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Date Created: 20201222 Date Completed: 20220715 Latest Revision: 20231203
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Update Code:
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20240105
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DOI:
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10.1177/0018720820967596
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PMID:
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33350873
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Objective: In this work, we systematically evaluated the reserved alarm sounds of the IEC 60601-1-8 international medical alarm standard to determine when and how they can be totally and partially masked.
Background: IEC 60601-1-8 gives engineers instruction for creating human-perceivable auditory medical alarms. This includes reserved alarm sounds: common types of alarms where each is a tonal melody. Even when this standard is honored, practitioners still fail to hear alarms, causing practitioner nonresponse and, thus, potential patient harm. Simultaneous masking, a condition where one or more alarms is imperceptible in the presence of other concurrently sounding alarms due to limitations of the human sensory system, is partially responsible for this.
Methods: In this research, we use automated proof techniques to determine if masking can occur in a modeled configuration of medical alarms. This allows us to determine when and how reserved alarm sound can mask other reserved alarms and to explore parameters to address discovered problems.
Results: We report the minimum number of other alarm sounds it takes to both totally and partially mask each of the high-, medium-, and low-priority alarm sounds from the standard.
Conclusions: Significant masking problems were found for both the total and partial masking of high-, medium-, and low-priority reserved alarm sounds.
Application: We show that discovered problems can be mitigated by setting alarm volumes to standard values based on priority level and by randomizing the timing of alarm tones.
