OBJECTIVE: To study the perception about environmental noise of professionals and parents of neonates assisted in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and to compare the findings with the measured noise levels. METHODS: The perception of parents and professionals that work in the NICU in relation to the presence of noise was evaluated by a questionnaire. Sound levels in three rooms and in the corridor of that environment were registered 24 hours/day during 9 days by the Quest Q-400 Noise Dosimeter and analyzed by QuestSuíteMR software. Kruskal-Wallis e Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare the noise levels in different places, being significant p<0.05. RESULTS: The average noise levels in the intensive, intermediary care, isolation rooms and in the corridor of the unit were 64.8, 62.1, 63.8 and 61.9dBA, respectively (p<0.001). Health professionals qualified the noise as present and intense, but parents evaluated the noise as moderate. Health professionals judged their own behaviors as noisy, and parents believe that they do not contribute to the existent noise at the place. Health professionals believed that newborns and professionals who work in the NICU may be injured by the noise, but this was not true for parents. All groups considered possible to reduce noise. CONCLUSIONS: The opinion about noise intensity differed significantly among health professionals and parents. Health professionals were more coherent about NICU's measured and perceived noise levels.
noise; infant, newborn; noise measurement; neonatology
