- Published
- 11 February 2023
- Journal article
The influence of facemasks on communication in healthcare settings: a systematic review
- Authors
- Source
- Disability and Rehabilitation
Abstract
Purpose
Although a well-established aspect of healthcare practice, the impact of facemasks on verbal communication is surprisingly ambiguous.
Materials and Methods
A systematic search was conducted in APA PSYCHinfo, CINAHL, NHS Knowledge Network, Medline and SPORTDiscus databases from inception to November 2022 according to the PRISMA guidelines. Studies reporting an objective measure of speech understanding in adults, where information was transmitted or received whilst wearing a facemask were included. Risk of bias of included studies was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa score.
Results
Four hundred and thirty-three studies were identified, of which fifteen were suitable for inclusion, incorporating 350 participants with a median age of 49 (range 19 to 74) years. Wide heterogeneity of test parameters and outcome measurement prohibited pooling of data. 93% (14 of 15) studies reported a deleterious effect of facemasks on speech understanding, and 100% (5 of 5) of the included studies reported attenuation of sound with facemask usage. Background noise added further deleterious effects on speech understanding which was particularly problematic within hearing-impaired populations. Risk of bias in included studies varied but overall was modest.
Conclusions
Despite considerable complexity and heterogeneity in outcome measure, 93% (14 of 15) articles suggest respiratory protective equipment negatively affects speech understanding in normal hearing and hearing-impaired adults.
Rights
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite as
Francis, R., Leavitt, M., McLelland, C. & Hamilton, D. 2023, 'The influence of facemasks on communication in healthcare settings: a systematic review', Disability and Rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2023.2176553