A number of studies imply that control of a patient's auditory environment can generate an improvement in recovery and quality of life. The evidence suggests nurses have the ability to control their patients' auditory environment and in so doing can reduce factors which contribute to physical and psychological instability. Through communication nurses are able to humanise treatment, deter ignorance and cement personal relationships of mutual trust between patients and their families. Reference to nursing unconscious patients in Intensive Therapy Units (ITU) indicates how nurses can relate theory to practice and ensure a positive rather than negative experience of recovery by regulating and influencing the sounds patients hear.