Acoustic characterization of the 1.5 Tesla MRI facility in Mobile Imaging Trailer

The Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging is a very important medical tool for diagnosis of the internal organs of the patient. The major problem associated with MRI is its high noise during operation responsible for anxiety, discomfort and can be harmful for the patient as well as long exposure raises the safety concerns for the operating staffs. This study involves the characterization of the noise in the vicinity of 1.5 Tesla Mobile Imaging Trailer-MRI (MIT-MRI) system, aimed at evaluating the acoustic parameters in the examination room during scanning. The acoustic measurements were carried out using the microphones located inside the MRI examination room for variations of Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) gradient pulse sequences. The sound recordings depicted the waveforms of complex acoustic pulses with high Sound Pressure Level (SPL) spikes of impulse nature. Results revealed equivalent SPL in the MRI examination room exceeds 90 dB(A) and the peak noise was consistently above 101.5 dB(C) and DWI sequence with oscillating gradient (DWI-og) reported peak SPL of 105.9 dB(C). The dominance of the noise is identified in the frequency range of 500–3000 Hz for all scanning sequence. Results indicate that sound levels are high in the mobile scanning facility as compared to the stationary MRI in the hospitals. The noise in the control room and chiller room were also high. Given that these acoustic measurements surpass recommended noise standards, the significance of ear protection is emphasized. These results can be useful in designing the noise reduction strategies to improve the patient comfort and safety.