The Effect of White Noise on Sleep Quality, Comfort, and Satisfaction in Patients Undergoing Lumbar Disk Herniation Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

PURPOSE: To determine the effect of white noise on sleep quality, comfort, and satisfaction after lumbar disk hernia surgery.

DESIGN

Open-label, parallel-group, randomized controlled study.

METHODS

This study enrolled 60 patients, aged between 18 and 65 years, who were hospitalized for at least 48 hours, had a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15, and underwent lumbar disk herniation surgery in the neurosurgery ward of a training and research hospital in Istanbul. Patients in the intervention group (n = 30) listened to white noise for 30 minutes before sleeping in addition to routine care on postoperative days 0 and 1, while patients in the control group (n = 30) received no intervention. The primary outcome of the study was the change in sleep quality (assessed by the Richard-Campbell Sleep Scale) on postoperative days 1 and 2. Secondary outcomes were changes in baseline comfort (assessed with the Shortened General Comfort Questionnaire) and satisfaction (visual analog scale) levels on postoperative days 1 and 2.

FINDINGS: Although both the intervention and control groups showed statistically significant increases in sleep quality over the first 2 days after surgery (P < .001 for both), this increase was more pronounced in the intervention group. The intervention group also showed significant increases in comfort scores between postoperative days 1 and 2 (P < .001 for all). Between postoperative days 1 and 2, satisfaction scores decreased significantly in the intervention group (P < .001) but not in the control group (P > .05).

CONCLUSIONS

White noise was effective in increasing the sleep quality, comfort, and satisfaction levels of patients after lumbar disk hernia surgery.