A novel acoustically quiet coil for neonatal MRI system.

MRI acoustic exposure has the potential to elicit physiological distress and impact development in preterm and term infants. To mitigate this risk, a novel acoustically quiet coil was developed to reduce the sound pressure level experienced by neonates during MR procedures. The new coil has a conventional high-pass birdcage RF design, but is built on a framework of sound abating material. We evaluated the acoustic and MR imaging performance of the quiet coil and a conventional body coil on two small footprint NICU MRI systems. Sound pressure level and frequency response measurements were made for six standard clinical MR imaging protocols. The average sound pressure level, reported for all six imaging pulse sequences, was 82.2 dBA for the acoustically quiet coil, and 91.1 dBA for the conventional body coil. The sound pressure level values measured for the acoustically quiet coil were consistently lower, 9 dBA (range 6-10 dBA) quieter on average. The acoustic frequency response of the two coils showed a similar harmonic profile for all imaging sequences. However, the amplitude was lower for the quiet coil, by as much as 20 dBA.