A Transparent Mask and Clear Speech Benefit Speech Intelligibility in Individuals With Hearing Los

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the impacts of a surmask and a transparent mask on audio-only and audiovisual speech intellibility in noise (i.e., 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio) in individuals with mild-profound hearing loss. The study also examined if individuals with hearing lcan benefit from using a transparent mask and clear speech for speech unstanding in noise. Method: Thirty-one individuals with hearing loss (from 22 to 74 years old) cpleted keyword identification tasks to measure face-masked speech intelligibiliin noise. A mixed-effects logistic regression model was used to examine effects of face masks (no mask, transparent mask, surgical mask), presentatimodes (audio only, audiovisual), speaking styles (conversational, clear), noistype (speech-shaped noise [SSN], four-talker babble [4-T babble]), hearingroups (mild hearing loss [MHL], greater than MHL: GHL), and their interaction binary accuracy of keyword identification. Results: In the audio-only mode, the GHL group showed reduced speeintelligibility regardless of other factors, whereas the MHL group showdecreased speech intelligibility for the transparent mask more than for the sgical mask. The use of a transparent mask was advantageous for both healoss groups. Clear speech remediated the detrimental effects of face mason speech intelligibility in noise. Both groups tended to perform better in Sversus 4-T babble. Conclusions: The findings indicate that, when using face masks, either a traparent mask or a surgical mask negatively affects speech understanding noise for individuals with hearing loss. Using a transparent mask and clspeech could be a potential solution to improve speech intelligibility in commnication with face masks in noise.