Acoustic environments of intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic

•Noise levels in all the patient rooms were more than the WHO guidelines, varying from 51.1 to 60.3 dBA.•Most dominant noise sources were talking/voices, door-closing, footsteps, and general activities.•Footsteps became an unexpected dominant noise source during the pandemic.•Talking/voices produced the highest maximum median values of the sound exposure level (SEL) and the maximum noise level at all sites.