I am frequently amazed at the amount of information people are cash registers ask you for.  It might be your first name, your last name, your whole name, including middle name, your telephone number, your birthday, your email address, your zip code, etc.  Usually there’s a reason for this information, such as verifying use of a credit card or keeping track of reward points for whatever program you’re part of.  Regardless of the purpose, however, I always feel a little bit vulnerable, as if my identity is on display.  Not only are people privy to my personal information, my actual identity could be up for grabs if the right {or in this case, wrong} person were listening.

It’s a matter of privacy, and doctor’s offices are not unlike tellers and cash registers.  Upon checking in, you have to supply your name, date of birth, and sometimes a detailed description of what’s ailing you.  A common cold is one thing, but projectile vomit or bathroom issues are quite another.  Plus, you have the added bonus of everyone knowing how old you are- yesterday, I found myself gawking at the college student who said his birthday was in 1990.  Ninety.  I was sure I had misheard, but upon doing the math, I realized I really am getting that old.  And it was none of my business in all honesty.  Even though I was seated in the waiting room, 10 feet away from reception, his every word was clear as could be.

How Confidential Privacy Can be Achieved through Sound Masking

Once again, I am reminded of how much sound masking would help in doctor’s offices and waiting rooms.  No one wants their business to be everyone else’s- not at reception and certainly not in the doctor’s office where we have to bare our medical souls.  On the contrary, we crave confidential privacy, which is why HIPAA exists in the first place.  We want more than our physical records kept confidentially, we want our conversations protected as well.  The best way to achieve that is through a sound masking system.  It’s such a simple solution of adding white noise to an area {such as a waiting room or exam room} through speakers in the ceiling tiles.  The resulting speech privacy protects us all and keeps us from getting too nosy.

Sound masking protects patients’ confidential matters in both waiting rooms and exam rooms in their doctors’ offices.

Taking kids to the doctor can be traumatizing, especially if they can hear other kids crying.

Yesterday I took my son to the children’s hospital for an appointment with the eye doctor.  My son is only two and a half, so I was unsure how the whole experience would affect him.  Fortunately, it was a children’s hospital, so there were an abundance of toys and things to do, as well as a well-equipped cafe for small treats.  All in all, the appointment went really well, though it did involve eye drops for dilation and long periods of waiting.  The only negative thing I walked away with the feeling of being able to hear too much.  There were many smaller examination rooms scattered throughout the children’s wing of the hospital and once we were waiting for the second part of our appointment, we both could hear the cries of other children as they experienced a painful or scary part of their appointments.  Hearing other children cry while we were waiting to go back in those very doors did not instill a lot of confidence in my son.  He would look at me and ask, “Baby crying?  Baby hurt?”  Even though his exam would not be painful, he started to worry a little about why those kids were crying.

Sometimes We All Need a Little Protection & Privacy

I know taking my son in to see the eye doctor is a small event in the scheme of things.  But, for us, it was pretty monumental- it was the first time there was something seriously wrong in one of our children.  What we thought was a lazy eye was a really far-sighted eye that was barely seeing anything at all.  As I processed this news and hugged my son, the last thing I wanted to hear was  someone else’s experience.

Sound Masking for Privacy & Confidentiality

A simple solution would be sound masking, in which white noise would softly hum through speakers installed directly in the ceiling tiles.  The result would be that the low-level noise would be soft enough to go largely unnoticed, but just enough to cover the noises (crying) coming from the exam rooms.  Both the waiting parents and the children would be spared the fear of pain that is a natural result of hearing others cry.  As an added bonus, speech privacy levels would also go up, so as medical professionals needed to discuss cases, questions, or results, each individual would be protected from being overheard.

As we all know the customer is king- in this case, the patient is king.  If a medical facility would like to keep their patients happy and satisfied, then a simple proactive measure like sound masking may well be the answer.

What are other people hearing?

In that specific situation, I was hit with the stark reality that medical (and what I always assumed was private) information obtained on the phone or in the office is not at all private.  When I pour my postnatal hormonal feelings out in my doctor’s office, I want the comfort on knowing she was the only one who heard me.  I don’t want to look over my shoulder, wondering if anyone in the waiting room or adjacent office heard me.

HIPAA is in place to safeguard such information, but it doesn’t force doctors to implement any acoustic treatments like sound masking to further guard our medical records.  However, I love my doctor and would like to keep seeing her.  I just wish she would value me as much as I value her.