A Study on the Psychological Noise Reduction Effect on Dental Handpiece Noise through the Bone Conduction Speaker Equipped Unit Chair and Notch-Filtered Music

Abstract

Anxiety in dental patients has caused inconvenient experiences during their dental visits due to the noise generated by the dental handpiece. High-frequency sounds generated by the handpiece have been challenging to reduce using the active control method that targets low-frequency sounds, as well as the difficulty in applying the noise control method using sound-absorbing materials, because the size of the handpiece is small. As an alternative, a method that can reduce noise and provide stability by playing music to patients is being studied. However, in most studies, there are inconveniences such as the need to turn the music volume higher to cover dental handpiece noise or having to wear headphones to play music. In this study, in order to reduce this inconvenience and optimize the noise reduction effect of music, we propose a technology that converts music into sound masking and a unit chair equipped with a bone conduction speaker that plays music, and through clinical trials with 35 patients, it was confirmed that the proposed system made the patients emotionally stable. In addition, by analyzing the causes of these emotional changes, it suggests that the preferred genre of music by patients should also be considered.