Operating room noise is a significant occupational hazard affecting healthcare professionals, but the specific consequences for scrub nurses have been largely overlooked. This study aimed to investigate the effects of operating room noise on scrub nurses across three key domains: psychological status, physiological and physical symptoms, and perceived surgical performance.
No actionable change for audiologists in clinical hearing care — however, occupational audiologists and hearing conservationists should consider surgical suite noise as a significant and underaddressed exposure risk requiring monitoring and intervention.
Documenting noise-related occupational harm in surgical settings expands the scope of hearing conservation programs beyond traditional industrial environments and supports policy advocacy for operating room noise standards.
- 01High-noise levels in operating rooms are associated with reduced wellbeing and performance in scrub nurses.
- 02Surgical environments represent an underrecognized occupational noise hazard.
- 03Study frames operating room noise as a public health concern warranting formal hearing conservation attention.
- 04Findings have implications for hospital occupational health policy and hearing conservation program design.
- 05Research adds to growing evidence that healthcare workers face meaningful noise exposure risks.
High-noise operating room environments are associated with impaired scrub nurse wellbeing and performance.
studypartially supportedOccupational noise in surgical settings is an underrecognized hazard.
opinionpartially supported- PMID
- 42293576
- DOI
- 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1812411.
- Journal
- Frontiers in Public Health
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 3
- Population
- Scrub nurses working in high-noise surgical operating room environments
- Intervention
- Exposure to high-noise levels in operating room settings
Primary outcomes
Scrub nurse wellbeing; Scrub nurse job performance
