Improved face-worn PPE designs for use by the public and professionals to reduce audio-visual communication difficulties

改进的面部佩戴个人防护装备设计，供公众和专业人士使用，以减少视听交流困难

• 批准号: EP/V051571/1
• 负责人: Michael Stone
• 金额: $ 16.35万
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FV051571%2F1
• 关键词: Improved; face; worn; PPE; designs

To reduce the transmission of COVID-19, personal protective equipment (PPE) isrequired. PPE to protect the eyes, nose and mouth comprises face masks and transparentvisors. These range from a simple covering made from domestic fabrics for use by thepublic, to FFP3/N99 rated air filters and wrap-around face visors in care settings. All thesePPE styles make spoken and signed communication harder. Everyone, not just thehearing impaired, will struggle to understand in real-world conditions and backgroundsounds. This will result in increased listening effort, stress, communication errors andpotentially social withdrawal. Articles published in May 2020 by the PI and his groupleader in a professional journal(https://www.entandaudiologynews.com/features/audiology-features/post/the-challenges-of-facemasks-for-people-with-hearing-loss) produced over 100 responses from anxiousadults, parents, public and professionals.Both acoustic and visual cues are reduced by face coverings: (i) acoustic : the high frequencies ofthe sound are attenuated, leading to a "muffled" perception (ii) visual : sight of the talker's mouthmovements that can be used by all listeners to supplement the muffling of speech and (iii) visual :full-facial expressions that convey emotions, supplement lip-reading and are essentialcomponents of (the non-acoustic) British Sign Language (BSL).Employing user surveys, fabrication, and testing, this project will produce validated examples offacemask and visor designs that preserve acoustic and visual cues thereby offering less effortfulcommunication in a variety of usage scenarios. It brings together acousticians, audiologists,material scientists, and users to tackle an urgent problem that affects everyone now, and will alsooutlast the current pandemic.

为减少COVID-19的传播，需要个人防护装备。保护眼、鼻和口的个人防护装备包括口罩和透明罩。从供公众使用的家用织物制成的简单覆盖物，到FFP3/N99级空气过滤器和护理场所的环绕式遮阳板。所有这些风格都使口头和手语交流变得更加困难。每个人，不仅仅是听力受损的人，都很难理解现实世界的环境和背景声音。这将导致更多的倾听努力、压力、沟通错误和潜在的社交退缩。PI和他的团队领袖于2020年5月在专业期刊（https://www.entandaudiologynews.com/features/audiology-features/post/the-challenges-of-facemasks-for-people-with-hearing-loss）上发表了文章，收到了来自焦虑的成年人、父母、公众和专业人士的100多份回复。面部遮盖减少了声音和视觉线索：(i)声学：声音的高频被减弱，导致“模糊”的感知；（ii）视觉：所有听者都可以使用说话者的口型来补充语音的模糊；（iii）视觉：传达情感的全面部表情，补充唇读，是（非声学）英国手语（BSL）的基本组成部分。通过用户调查、制作和测试，该项目将产生有效的面罩和遮阳板设计示例，这些设计保留了声音和视觉线索，从而在各种使用场景中提供更轻松的沟通。它将声学家、听力学家、材料科学家和用户聚集在一起，解决一个现在影响到每个人的紧迫问题，并将在当前的大流行之后继续存在。