抄録
To determine the actual condition of speech privacy in Japanese community pharmacies, a survey of the sound environment in such pharmacies was conducted. The results indicated that STI values are high irrespective of the size of the pharmacy and that a small difference in the signal-to-noise ratio greatly influences the difficulty associated with listening to words. These results suggest that architectural design plays an important role in the quality of instructions given in community pharmacies regarding the use of drugs and that the design should be such that sounds act as masking agents. Such measures might become important factors for improving the environment of speech privacy in community pharmacies.
