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Communication using a telephone while wearing a respirator.

A T Johnson1, W H Scott, C G Lausted

  • 1Department of Biological Resources Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA.

AIHAJ : a Journal for the Science of Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety
|April 27, 2000
PubMed
Summary

Wearing respirators significantly impairs telephone communication, reducing word accuracy by 10% and slowing speech speed by up to 67%. This research highlights communication challenges with respiratory protective equipment.

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Area of Science:

  • Occupational Health
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Communication Science

Background:

  • Respirator use is known to degrade face-to-face communication.
  • Limited data exists on respirator effects on telephone-based communication.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the impact of wearing U.S. Army M40 respirators on telephone communication effectiveness.
  • To assess how different respirator speech diaphragm and hood materials affect communication performance.

Main Methods:

  • Eleven subject pairs participated, pronouncing and identifying words from Modified Rhyme Test lists via telephone.
  • Participants wore M40 full-facepiece air-purifying respirators with hoods.
  • Three speech diaphragm configurations and two hood materials were tested.

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Main Results:

  • Communication accuracy decreased by approximately 10% when wearing respirators and hoods compared to no equipment.
  • Word identification speed was reduced by 33% to 67%, depending on the specific equipment used.

Conclusions:

  • Wearing respirators significantly degrades telephone communication clarity and speed.
  • The findings underscore the need for improved respirator designs to mitigate communication impairment in critical environments.