The Effects of Operating Room COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment on Speech Perception and Listening Effort

Ondokuz Mayıs University219 enrolled

Overview

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of the combination surgical mask+N95 mask+face shield in operating room on speech perception and listening effort during the COVID-19 process. METHODS: The experimental part of the study was carried out in three phases. Thirty-five participants who were found to have normal hearing in Phase I were included in Phase II and Phase III. Speech stimuli were given with a surgical mask in phase II, and a combination of surgical mask+N95 mask+face shield in phase III. The tests performed in free field, in the presence of 60 dB wideband background noise. In the descriptive part of the study, the listening effort of 184 operating room professionals was examined with a 17-item questionnaire.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

219

Conditions

Speech Perception Communication Barriers Operating Rooms Protective Devices

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMax age: 55 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Inclusion Criteria: * Operating room nurses and technicians whose medical history was not a vestibular disease and ear surgery, who were shown to have normal hearing (NH) by hearing tests. Exclusion Criteria: * presence of hearing and vestibular loss

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in speech perception score under operating room PPE conditions

Speech perception was assessed using a standardized speech perception test while participants were wearing operating room personal protective equipment.

Time frame: November 2021