The Effect of Conventional and Transparent Surgical Masks on Speech Understanding in Individuals with and without Hearing Loss
The Effect of Conventional and Transparent Surgical Masks on Speech Understanding in Individuals with and without Hearing Loss
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DOI：
10.3766/jaaa.15151
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发表时间：
2017-01-01
影响因子：
1.2
通讯作者：
Spann, M. Joshua
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Atcherson, Samuel R.;Mendel, Lisa Lucks;Spann, M. Joshua
背景：众所周知，无论是在安静的环境中还是在嘈杂的环境中，集成的视听输入通常都能改善言语感知。然而，在许多医疗保健环境中，传统的外科口罩阻碍了对口腔的视觉接触，并掩盖了其他潜在的面部迹象。此外，这些环境可能会很嘈杂。虽然这些掩模可能不会改变声学特性，但除了缺乏视觉输入外，噪声的存在可能会对语音理解产生有害影响。目的：比较噪声和不同视觉输入条件对听力正常和听力受损的听者使用不同手术面罩的言语理解的影响。研究设计：在这项准实验性的横断面研究中，参与者根据听力敏感度被分成三组。研究样本：共有31名成年人参与了这项研究：1名说话者，10名听力正常的听者，10名中度感音神经性耳聋的听者，资料收集与分析：从《连通言语测验》中选出的听者，分别在带和不带外科口罩的情况下，在65dBHL下，以四人喋喋不休(+10dBSNR)为背景，以5种情况呈现给受试者：无口罩(仅听觉)、无口罩(听觉和视觉)、透明口罩(仅听觉)、透明口罩(听觉和视觉)和纸质口罩(仅听觉)。结果：有无口罩的言语刺激的频谱分析有显著差异；但均方根不超过分贝。患有NH的听众在所有情况下都表现得一直很好。这两组听力受损的听众都从透明面罩的视觉输入中受益。结论：研究结果证实，当使用透明外科口罩提供视觉输入时，听力受损的听者在噪声中的言语感知能力得到了改善。最重要的是，透明面罩的使用不会对噪声中的言语感知表现产生负面影响。
Background: It is generally well known that speech perception is often improved with integrated audiovisual input whether in quiet or in noise. In many health-care environments, however, conventional surgical masks block visual access to the mouth and obscure other potential facial cues. In addition, these environments can be noisy. Although these masks may not alter the acoustic properties, the presence of noise in addition to the lack of visual input can have a deleterious effect on speech understanding. A transparent ("see-through") surgical mask may help to overcome this issue.Purpose: To compare the effect of noise and various visual input conditions on speech understanding for listeners with normal hearing (NH) and hearing impairment using different surgical masks.Research Design: Participants were assigned to one of three groups based on hearing sensitivity in this quasi-experimental, cross-sectional study.Study Sample: A total of 31 adults participated in this study: one talker, ten listeners with NH, ten listeners with moderate sensorineural hearing loss, and ten listeners with severe-to-profound hearing loss.Data Collection and Analysis: Selected lists from the Connected Speech Test were digitally recorded with and without surgical masks and then presented to the listeners at 65 dB HL in five conditions against a background of four-talker babble (+10 dB SNR): without a mask (auditory only), without a mask (auditory and visual), with a transparent mask (auditory only), with a transparent mask (auditory and visual), and with a paper mask (auditory only).Results: A significant difference was found in the spectral analyses of the speech stimuli with and without the masks; however, no more than dB root mean square. Listeners with NH performed consistently well across all conditions. Both groups of listeners with hearing impairment benefitted from visual input from the transparent mask. The magnitude of improvement in speech perception in noise was greatest for the severe-to-profound group.Conclusions: Findings confirm improved speech perception performance in noise for listeners with hearing impairment when visual input is provided using a transparent surgical mask. Most importantly, the use of the transparent mask did not negatively affect speech perception performance in noise.