Acoustic voice characteristics with and without wearing a facemask

Abstract

Facemasks are essential for healthcare workers but characteristics of the voice whilst wearing this personal protective equipment are not well understood. In the present study, we compared acoustic voice measures in recordings of sixteen adults producing standardised vocal tasks with and without wearing either a surgical mask or a KN95 mask. Data were analysed for mean spectral levels at 0–1 kHz and 1–8 kHz regions, an energy ratio between 0–1 and 1–8 kHz (LH1000), harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPS), and vocal intensity. In connected speech there was significant attenuation of mean spectral level at 1–8 kHz region and there was no significant change in this measure at 0–1 kHz. Mean spectral levels of vowel did not change significantly in mask-wearing conditions. LH1000 for connected speech significantly increased whilst wearing either a surgical mask or KN95 mask but no significant change in this measure was found for vowel. HNR was higher in the mask-wearing conditions than the no-mask condition. CPPS and vocal intensity did not change in mask-wearing conditions. These findings implied an attenuation effects of wearing these types of masks on the voice spectra with surgical mask showing less impact than the KN95.

Self-Perceived Voice Handicap During COVID19 Compulsory Facemask Use: A Comparative Study Between Portuguese and Spanish Speakers

“…Previous studies have found that effects of facemask use may vary according to speakers 5 . In order to investigate this, comparisons of effects of facemask use in two different populations of speakers, i.e.…”

“…The current investigation concerned self-perceptions of voice-related handicap associated with compulsory facemask use during COVID19 pandemic outbreak, between October 2020 and January 2021. As the impact of facemask use on phonation may differ across speakers 5 and across phonemes 7 , two populations of non-dysphonic speakers were investigated, i.e., Portuguese and Spanish, using the respective validated translations of the VHI 27,28 . All responses were obtained online, following previous recommendations on the benefits of using online surveys during outbreaks of rapidly evolving infectious diseases 31 .…”

“…The use of facemasks to reduce the risk of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID19) has been compulsory, from 2020 until, at least, 2021, in public spaces in European countries 1 . The use of this personal protective equipment has been reported to affect oral communication in many ways, namely concerning speech intelligibility 2 , facial cues in human social interactions 3 , emotional reading 4 and voice production 5 .…”

“…Both surgical and filtering facepiece (FFP2) mask types seem to restrict speech intelligibility for listeners, especially in noisy environments and when speakers have a foreign accented 6 . The literature reports a reduction of about 3 to 12 dB in the frequency range between 2 to 8 kHz, with the FFP2 type, an European equivalent to the N95 facemasks wore in USA, offering the greatest attenuation 5,[7][8][9][10] . According to recent studies, the lowpass filter effect of facemask use compromises the perception of several groups of phonemes, especially those with spectral peaks within 2 to 8 kHz, such as voiceless fricatives (Maryn et al, 2021).…”

“…As to date, voice-related handicap has been investigated mainly with respect to essential professionals; the current study includes all types of professions. In addition, because effects of facemask use differ across speakers 5 and across phonemes 7 , self-perceptions of voice-related handicap were compared between two populations of speakers, i.e., Portuguese and Spanish.…”