{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T07:31:10Z","timestamp":1777620670378,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"American Academy of Audiology","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["j am acad audiol"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Abstract<\/jats:bold>  <jats:bold>Background<\/jats:bold>\u2003The COVID-19 pandemic has made wearing face masks a common habit in public places. Several reports have underlined the increased difficulties encountered by deaf people in speech comprehension, resulting in a higher risk of social isolation\n and psychological distress. <jats:bold>Purpose<\/jats:bold>\u2003To address the detrimental effect of different types of face masks on speech perception, according to the listener hearing level and background noise. <jats:bold>Research Design<\/jats:bold>\u2003Quasi-experimental cross-sectional study. <jats:bold>Study\n Sample<\/jats:bold>\u2003Thirty patients were assessed: 16 with normal hearing [NH], and 14 hearing-impaired [HI] with moderate hearing loss. <jats:bold>Data Collection and Analysis<\/jats:bold>\u2003A speech perception test (TAUV) was administered by an operator trained to speak at 65\u2009dB, without a face\n mask, with a surgical mask, and with a KN95\/FFP2 face mask, in a quiet and in a noisy environment (cocktail party noise, 55\u2009dB). The Hearing Handicap Index for Adults (HHI-A) was administered twice, asking subjects to complete it for the period before and after the pandemic outburst.\n A 2-way repeated-measure analysis of variance was performed. <jats:bold>Results<\/jats:bold>\u2003The NH group showed a significant difference between the no-mask and the KN95\/FFP2-mask condition in noise (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.01). The HI group showed significant differences for surgical or KN95\/FFP2\n mask compared with no-mask, and for KN95\/FFP2 compared with surgical mask, in quiet and in noise (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u20090.001). An increase in HHI-A scores was recorded for the HI patients (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u20090.001). <jats:bold>Conclusion<\/jats:bold>\u2003Face masks have a detrimental effect\n on speech perception especially for HI patients, potentially worsening their hearing-related quality of life.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1055\/s-0041-1736577","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,6]],"date-time":"2022-05-06T00:42:31Z","timestamp":1651797751000},"page":"98-104","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["COVID-19 and Deafness: Impact of Face Masks on Speech Perception"],"prefix":"10.3766","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Margherita","family":"Tofanelli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Cattinara Hospital, Trieste, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vincenzo","family":"Capriotti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of 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