Hotels have been playing an important role during the current pandemic. In certain countries, the local governments have announced that it is compulsory for those entering the country from overseas to carry out hotel quarantine. Taking Malaysia as an example, travellers entering the country regardless from any country are required to undergo hotel quarantine for up to 10 days (as of January 2021), in which the local authorities will arrange the rooms for them unless the travellers opted for Premium Package which of course, costs higher than the standard ones. Travellers will have to take COVID tests in between to ensure that they are COVID-negative and isolating them in the hotels will make sure that there will not be the possibility of spreading the virus to the public since all travellers should be taken as potential risk carrier.

Hotel room comfort

Many may be wondering: How is the cleanliness of the room? Are the meals provided good? What about the Wi-Fi strength there?

But there is one thing that people sometimes forget about: Noise. From the study done by the J.D. Power North American Hotel Guest Satisfaction Survey, it has been consistently shown that complaints on noise issues are significantly under-reported, and hardly being resolved in the end (Simonsen, 2019). Imagine living in a confined space for more than 10 days, where you need to experience constant noise coming from your neighbours, or from outside the room like traffic or construction noise, how will you feel? Looking at some hotel review posts in the Malaysia Quarantine Support Group (MQSG) created to aid travellers coming into Malaysia, there seem to be numerous posts complaining about noise nuisance during their quarantine period. The typical problems faced by members include:

1. Traffic noise – hotel is located next to busy road
2. Construction noise in the day from nearby sites
3. Loud neighbours – speaking loudly especially at sleeping hours

To be exact, these are the similar nuisance one would experience in residential houses.

For short term stays, these may not be the main concern, but it is a totally different case for a quarantine. Unreasonable amount of noise daily for long term, especially after a tired flight and transition at the airport, will lead to unwanted circumstances on a person’s health (physically and mentally).

Noise and Sleep Disturbance

For people who are extremely sensitive to noise, the first thing that can be observed will be that they cannot sleep or even rest well. This will result in sleep deficiency, which slowly drains off the energy to carry out daily tasks. According to Hume, many from the research field claimed that sleep disturbance caused by environmental noise has the most detrimental effect to health. Having an undisturbed night of sleep is even taken to be a fundamental rights and prerequisite to ensure continued health and well-being (Hume, 2010). Hume mentioned that noise pollution can be described as the “modern unseen plague” which may interfere with cognitive processes hence disturbing sleep quality.

To overcome the problem of noise affecting sleep quality, the World Health Organization (WHO – European Office) has brought in experts with relevant documents in recent years to establish the Night Noise Guidelines for Europe. The guidelines contain the latest reviews of noise disturbance and the potential risk to human health. Below are the four ranges of continuous external sound level at night, relating night noise and the populations’ health effects:

<30 dB – no substantial biological effects could normally be expected

30-40 dB – primary effects on sleep start to emerge and adverse effects in vulnerable groups

40-55 dB – sharp increase in adverse health effects while vulnerable groups become severely affected

>55dB – adverse health effects occur frequently with high percentage of the population highly annoyed

These guidelines help to understand the effect of noise on sleep, although a large extent of this topic still relies on fully understanding the fundamentals of the nature of sleep.

Acoustics Solutions for Hotels

As mentioned in the previous sections, the noise complaints for hotel rooms mainly cover traffic noise, noise from neighbours and construction noise. Since sound travels in wave forms, soundproofing will be one of the best concepts to act as a barrier that can effectively stop the sound waves from entering a room from outside.

Typically, there are four methods to achieve the soundproofing effect for hotel rooms (SoundGuard, 2019):

• Absorption – adding sound insulating materials such as mineral wool or fiberglass for sound absorption, thus preventing sound from passing through
• Damping – soundwaves often cause vibrations between air particles. Damping helps in reducing or eliminating the vibrational effects by acting as a barrier that does not vibrate
• Decoupling – In layman terms, this also means separating the walls by adding an insulation layer between the two layers of drywall.
• Mass – Utilizing thicker, heavier, or denser materials to block sound