Face masks muffle speech and make communication more difficult, especially for people with hearing loss. This study examines the acoustic attenuation caused by different face masks, including medical, cloth, and transparent masks, using a head-shaped loudspeaker and a live human talker. The results suggest that all masks attenuate frequencies above 1 kHz, that attenuation is greatest in front of the talker, and that there is substantial variation between mask types, especially cloth masks with different materials and weaves. Transparent masks have poor acoustic performance compared to both medical and cloth masks. Most masks have little effect on lapel microphones, suggesting that existing sound reinforcement and assistive listening systems may be effective for verbal communication with masks.
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October 2020
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October 01 2020
Acoustic effects of face masks on speech signals
Ryan M. Corey;
Ryan M. Corey
Elec. and Comput. Eng., Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 456 Coordinated Sci. Lab, 1308 West Main St., Urbana, IL 61801, [email protected]
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Uriah Jones;
Uriah Jones
Industrial Design, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
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Andrew C. Singer
Andrew C. Singer
Elec. and Comput. Eng., Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL
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J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 148, 2748 (2020)
Citation
Ryan M. Corey, Uriah Jones, Andrew C. Singer; Acoustic effects of face masks on speech signals. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 1 October 2020; 148 (4_Supplement): 2748. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5147640
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