Experimental determination of the acoustical effects of face masks on speech effort

Noah N. Schumaker, Andrew R. Barnard

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global trend in mask wearing. This study investigates how wearing face masks attenuate sound in the human speech range. Masks were equipped onto a test fixture to evaluate acoustic insertion loss over whole-octave bands important for vocal transmission. With the exception of face shield, tested masks showed less than 2 dB of insertion loss at frequencies less than 2 kHz and up to 5 dB of attenuation at frequencies above 2 kHz. The face shield showed insertion loss of more than 10 dB in the 4 and 8 kHz octave bands.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of INTER-NOISE 2021 - 2021 International Congress and Exposition of Noise Control Engineering
EditorsTyler Dare, Stuart Bolton, Patricia Davies, Yutong Xue, Gordon Ebbitt
PublisherThe Institute of Noise Control Engineering of the USA, Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781732598652
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021
Event50th International Congress and Exposition of Noise Control Engineering, INTER-NOISE 2021 - Washington, United States
Duration: Aug 1 2021Aug 5 2021

Publication series

NameProceedings of INTER-NOISE 2021 - 2021 International Congress and Exposition of Noise Control Engineering

Conference

Conference50th International Congress and Exposition of Noise Control Engineering, INTER-NOISE 2021
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWashington
Period8/1/218/5/21

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Acoustics and Ultrasonics

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