COVID-19 and Deafness: Impact of Face Masks on Speech Perception

Background: The 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 and psychological distress. Purpose: To address the detrimental effect of different types of face masks on speech perception, according to the listener hearing level and background noise. Research design: Quasi-experimental cross-sectional study. Study sample: Thirty patients were assessed: 16 with normal hearing [NH], and 14 hearing-impaired [HI] with moderate hearing loss. Data collection and analysis: A speech perception test (TAUV) was administered by an operator trained to speak at 65 dB, without a face mask, with a surgical mask, and with a KN95/FFP2 face mask, in a quiet and in a noisy environment (cocktail party noise, 55 dB). 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. A 2-way repeated-measure analysis of variance was performed. Results: The NH group showed a significant difference between the no-mask and the KN95/FFP2-mask condition in noise (p = 0.01). The HI group showed significant differences for surgical or KN95/FFP2 mask compared with no-mask, and for KN95/FFP2 compared with surgical mask, in quiet and in noise (p < 0.001). An increase in HHI-A scores was recorded for the HI patients (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Face masks have a detrimental effect on speech perception especially for HI patients, potentially worsening their hearing-related quality of life.