J Voice. 2021 Mar 9:S0892-1997(21)00070-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2021.01.026. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study was to investigate the impact of surgical mask on some vocal parameters such as F0, vocal intensity, jitter, shimmer and harmonics-to-noise ratio in order to understand how surgical mask can affect voice and verbal communication in adults.
METHODS: The study was carried out on a selected group of 60 healthy subjects. All subjects were trained to voice a vocal sample of a sustained /a/, at a conversational voice intensity for the Maximum Phonation Time (MPT), wearing the surgical mask and then without wearing the surgical mask. Voice samples were recorded directly in Praat.
RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in any acoustic parameter between the masked and unmasked condition. There was a non-significant decrease in vocal intensity in 65% of the subjects while wearing a surgical mask.
CONCLUSIONS: The statistical comparison carried out between all the acoustic voice parameters observed, extracted wearing and not wearing a surgical mask did not reveal any significant statistical difference. Most of the subjects, after wearing the surgical mask, presented a decrease in vocal intensity measured. Our conclusion was that wearing a mask is likely to induce the unconscious need to increase the vocal effort, resulting over time in a greater risk of developing functional dysphonia. The reduction of intensity can affect also social interaction and speech audibility, especially for individuals with hearing loss.
PMID:33712355 | DOI:10.1016/j.jvoice.2021.01.026
