الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The use of face masks became mandatory during the COVID-19 pandemic. The three most commonly used face mask types are the N95, surgical, and cloth masks. Face masks may have adverse effects on communication as they can lead to distortion of the speech signal with subsequent affection of speech intelligibility and voice especially among occupational voice users. Aim: the aim is to evaluate the effect of wearing face masks on voice and intelligibility of speech in Egyptian working individuals. Subjects and methods: the study included 153 participants. Personal data and data about the nature of their workplaces were collected. Evaluation included subjective and objective assessment of voice and intelligibility of speech. Subjective assessment of voice and intelligibility of speech was obtained by applying a specifically designed questionnaire. Objective assessment of voice was performed by measuring some voice parameters by Computerized Speech Lab, while objective assessment of speech intelligibility was done by application of the Arabic Speech Intelligibility Test for Adolescents and Adults. Results: the present study revealed poor workplace acoustics for subjects under the study. Increased their self-perception of voice fatigue, speech unintelligibility, auditory feedback received from the listeners, and breathing difficulty in case of wearing face masks. Medical professions showed increased self-perception of speech unintelligibility and the received auditory feedback than nonmedical professions. Assessment of voice revealed no significant difference in absolute jitter with and without face mask. With face mask, shimmer and mean fundamental frequency were increased, while noise to harmonic ratio and maximum phonation time were decreased. The study revealed decreased scores of speech intelligibility with face mask, especially with the N95 mask. Conclusion: wearing face masks has a negative impact on communication in workplace, especially with poor room acoustics, as they affect speech intelligibility on both subjective and objective aspects, with subsequent affection of voice as it was found that they caused increased self-perception of voice fatigue and changes in some aspects of objective voice parameters. |