Public Address System
Many hospitals have already been equipped with either loud-speaker or headphone installations. For those hospitals which are still in the deciding stage, some of the advantages of each will be briefly considered.
Ideally, both speakers and head-phones should be available. This is a luxury in which few will be willing or able to indulge. When head-phones are used, they have a way of getting misplaced, broken or broken-down. Head-phones or listening devices are usually distributed to those patients who are medically eligible. Frequently the attendants are busy and forget to supply them, to the chagrin of the patient. When there are not enough to go around a further source of dissatisfaction arises. Head-phones must be adjusted for proper reception and comfort, and this may become a source of bother to patients or staff. Among the advantages of ’phones are the quietness of wards at all times for those who desire rest. Their use permits maximum focusing of attention on the music because of the exclusion of most other sounds. They become a mechanism of escape from the unwanted conversation of noisome neighbors. When double-jacks or two-channel wiring is used the patient is permitted some choice in music selection. The use of ’phones, however, limits the physical excursion of the ambulatory patient.
The use of a loud-speaker system permits those patients not strictly confined to their beds to visit other parts of the ward without interruption in their listening. Some patients enjoy music as a background to conversation or ward activities. The same switchboard may be used for musical programs and hospital announcements, and this may be desirable economically in some institutions. Strategically placed speakers may be channeled exclusively as a call system.
Laughter is a communal reaction. We rarely react completely to a radio joke if we are listening alone, but if several people listen simultaneously laughter becomes more pronounced and prolonged. Loud-speaker systems permit patients on the ward to enjoy music as a group. They also permit the greater use of background music. Eating with the encumbrance of head-phones is not desirable.
Each hospital will have to weigh these and other arguments of the speaker-phone dilemma and choose according to its individual requirements.
The most suitable number of channels for a small hospital is two. One operator can readily handle two channels. When the number of channels is increased above this the expense of installation and operation will increase, especially if recordings or transcriptions are to be used in addition to outside programs.
The operator of the public address system should be conversant with the Hooper or Crossley ratings of the more important programs and be certain to include the most popular at any one hour in re-broadcast.