Evaluation of Noise Levels in a University Dental Clinic

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

It appears that from the measured sound levels there is no risk of hearing damage.

Verify the dB and dBA writing.

Authors should give a brief description of the rooms with the type of material and if it is acoustically effective.

The authors only report dBA, but if they are using rotary organ systems it would be to see the frequency domain, so a frequency graph would be good.

For doctors and patients, why didn't you take a disease assessment test? Knowing what they think of the noise they hear could be important and take action to eliminate the disturbing noise.

Can you evaluate the acoustic characteristics of the rooms in accordance with ISO 3382?

Author Response

Thank you for your comments. Please see attached file with our feedback.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Fig. 2 to Fig. 8, remove the numbers from the graphs.

The work shows that the measured sound levels are lower than 85 dBA, there is no risk of hearing damage.

Attention row 327 dB maybe it was dBA

It would be appropriate to describe the rooms, the number of people present, evaluate the type of material of which the walls and ceiling are made.

It would have been appropriate to report the reverberation time in the rooms, if greater than 0.8 seconds the acoustic correction could be proposed.

Given the results obtained, one could think of a study on annoyance, evaluate the frequency components of sound emissions, perhaps the concept of annoyance is more important.

Annoying tonal component may be present which make the clinician lose concentration or irritate the patient.

Could you elaborate on these topics?

Author Response

Thank you for your comments. Please see attached file with our feedback.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for your comments. Please see attached file with our feedback.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

See file

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

In general the English is of an acceptable standard, however the terminology in use can be more in line with the many publications on the topic. Perhaps find some support from an acoustics engineer to help with the terminology and the proper reporting of sound pressure levels.

Author Response

Thank you for your comments. Please see attached file with our comments

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

accept