Short report on the effects of SARS-CoV-2 face protective equipment on verbal communication

Muzzi, Enrico; Chermaz, Carol; Castro, Veronica; Zaninoni, Mattia; Saksida, Amanda; Orzan, Eva

doi:10.1007/s00405-020-06535-1

Cited by 33 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Moreover, the N95 mask was shown to cause acoustic attenuation. A prior study demonstrated that the FFP2 mask combined with a face shield was responsible for up to 60.5% loss of speech intelligibility in noisy environments ( Muzzi et al., 2021 ). Wearing masks makes it difficult for patients or colleagues to hear HCWs speaking; thus, they are required to speak louder than usual ( Bandaru et al., 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adverse Effects of Personal Protective Equipment Among Intensive Care Unit Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

et al. 2021

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Introduction To avoid exposure to SARS-COV-2, healthcare professionals use personal protective equipment (PPE) while treating COVID-19 patients. Prior studies have revealed the adverse effects (AEs) of PPE on healthcare workers (HCWs); however, no review has focused on the AEs of PPE on HCWs in intensive care units (ICUs). This review aimed to identify the AEs of PPE on HCWs working in ICUs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A scoping review was conducted. MEDLINE, CINAHL, the World Health Organization (WHO) global literature on COVID-19, and Igaku-chuo-zasshi (a Japanese medical database), Google Scholar, medRxiv, and Health Research Board (HRB) open research were searched from January 25–28, 2021. The extracted data included author(s) name, year of publication, country, language, article title, journal name, publication type, study methodology, population, outcome, and key findings. Results The initial search identified 691 articles and abstracts. Twenty-five articles were included in the analysis. The analysis comprised four key topics: studies focusing on PPE-related headache, voice disorders, skin manifestations, and miscellaneous AEs of PPE. The majority of AEs for HCWs in ICUs were induced by prolonged use of masks. Conclusion The AEs of PPE among HCWs in ICUs included heat, headaches, skin injuries, chest discomfort, and dyspnea. Studies with a focus on specific diseases were on skin injuries. Moreover, many AEs were induced by prolonged use of masks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adverse Effects of Personal Protective Equipment Among Intensive Care Unit Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

et al. 2021

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“…In another recent study, surgical masks showed to account for 23.3% of loss in speech intelligibility in a noisy background, a value that can achieve 69.0% for advanced protection equipment (FFP3 mask combined with face shield). [ 17 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does the wearing of masks change voice and speech parameters?

Gama

Castro

Lith-Bijl

et al. 2021

Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol

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Purpose The authors aim to review available reports on the potential effects of masks on voice and speech parameters. Methods A literature search was conducted using MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases through July 2021. Several targeted populations, mask scenarios and methodologies were approached. The assessed voice parameters were divided into self-reported, acoustic and aerodynamic. Results It was observed that the wearing of a face mask has been shown to induce several changes in voice parameters: (1) self-reported—significantly increased vocal effort and fatigue, increased vocal tract discomfort and increased values of voice handicap index (VHI) were observed; (2) acoustics—increased voice intensity, altered formants frequency (F2 and F3) with no changes in fundamental frequency, increased harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) and increased mean spectral values in high-frequency levels (1000–8000 Hz), especially with KN95 mask; (3) aerodynamics—maximum phonatory time was assessed in only two reports, and showed no alterations. Conclusion Despite the different populations, mask-type scenarios and methodologies described by each study, the results of this review outline the significant changes in voice characteristics with the use of face masks. Wearing a mask shows to increase the perception of vocal effort and an alteration of the vocal tract length and speech articulatory movements, leading to spectral sound changes, impaired communication and perception. Studies analyzing the effect of masks on voice aerodynamics are lacking. Further research is required to study the long-term effects of face masks on the potential development of voice pathology.

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“…Therefore, surgical masks are suspected to have a negative effect on the communication while, especially in hospitals, effective communication is very important. Some studies (Bandaru et al 2020;Hampton et al 2020;Cohn, Pycha, and Zellou 2021;Muzzi et al 2021;Toscano and Toscano 2021) investigated the effect of surgical masks on speech understanding for normal hearing adults. All these studies found decreased speech perception scores in background noises when surgical masks were worn.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of face masks on the communication of adults with hearing loss during COVID-19 in a clinical setting

Homans

Vroegop

2021

International Journal of Audiology

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Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of surgical masks and face shields on speech intelligibility of adults with moderate to severe hearing loss. Design: This study measured speech tracking scores in quiet for life speech in three different conditions: without a mask, with a surgical mask and with a face shield. Acoustic effects of the masks and face shields on the speech signal were also investigated. Study sample:The study sample consists of 42 patients with moderate to severe hearing loss, 23 cochlear implant users and 19 hearing aid users. Results: A significant average difference in speech perception scores was found for the use of a surgical mask compared to the listening situation "without mask". The worse the speech understanding in quiet, the larger the impact of the surgical mask. For the worse performers even the face shield had a negative impact on speech perception. The sound distortion for the face shield compared to the surgical mask was greater. Conclusion:This study shows that even for speech perception in quiet, surgical face masks, and face shields to a lesser extent, have a negative effect for patients with moderate to severe hearing loss.

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Short report on the effects of SARS-CoV-2 face protective equipment on verbal communication

Cited by 33 publications

References 6 publications

Adverse Effects of Personal Protective Equipment Among Intensive Care Unit Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

Adverse Effects of Personal Protective Equipment Among Intensive Care Unit Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review

Does the wearing of masks change voice and speech parameters?

The impact of face masks on the communication of adults with hearing loss during COVID-19 in a clinical setting

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