EFFECT OF AUDITORY STIMULATION ON THE LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS AMONG COMATOSE PATIENTS ADMITTED IN THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT AT SELECTED HOSPITALS, KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL

Background: Coma is a state of impaired consciousness where a patient neither speak, open eyes nor respond to the external sensory stimuli but might hear the sounds as the brain of a coma patient may continue to work. Objectives: To assess the level of consciousness before and after administration of auditory stimulation and to evaluate the effect of auditory stimulation on the level of consciousness of comatose patients by the difference of pre-test and post-test score. Methods: Quasi-experimental study was conducted where 52 comatose patients (E=26, C=26) were randomly selected as sample by non-probability convenience sampling technique. Record analysis proforma and Glasgow Coma Scale was administered to collect data. Auditory stimulation (family member's recorded voice) was administered in the experimental group for seven days. Results: The study ndings revealed that the mean pre-test GCS score of experimental group was (7.04±0.96) and for control group (7.08±1.02) on the Day1. No signicant differences between the GCS scores were observed (t=0.14) (p>0.05). ANOVA represents that the mean post-test GCS score (10.31±2.02) of experimental group after auditory stimulation was higher than the mean pre-test GCS score (7.04±0.96) (p<0.00001) which was statistically signicant as the F value (23.56) with df (7, 200) (p<0.05). The mean post-test GCS score was (10.31±2.02) for experimental group was higher than the mean post-test test GCS score (7.23±1.07) in control group on Day7 (t=6.88) (p<0.05). Conclusion: Auditory stimulation is effective in signicantly improving the level of consciousness among comatose patients.