QUIET HEALTHCARE CHAIR

David M. Sykes, MA, is lead author of “Sound & Vibration” (Springer-Verlag), co-author of “Sound Matters” (U.S. General Services Administration, and a contributor to the National Academy of Engineering report, “Technology for a Quieter America.” He is a retired professor who taught and did research at Cornell University, Boston University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and organized research at other institutions including Harvard Medical School. Mr. Sykes is co-founder and Executive Chair of Quiet Healthcare (QH), the oldest (founded in 2004) of Quiet Communities’ programs. QH was originally formed as a joint technical committee of the Acoustical Society of America and the American National Standards Association for the purpose of researching, developing and promulgating evidence-based, national standards and criteria for the Faculty Guidelines Institute, the American Hospital Association and the American Institute of Architects on privacy, sound and vibration. QH joined Quiet Communities in 2018 in order to broaden its membership to include medical and public health professionals in addition to architects, engineers and researchers interested in noise and acoustical science. Since 2010 QH’s criteria have provided the regulatory foundation and reference standards in the U.S. for hospitals, outpatient facilities and residential care communities, which are revised on a formal “Continual Improvement Program” and re-published every four years, with the most recent edition appearing in spring 2022. In addition to setting U.S. minimum standards, QH’s criteria are the reference standard for acoustics in USGBC LEED-HC, IgCC, and are cited and used in 87 countries outside the USA.