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Telephone communications with several commercial respirators
A T Johnson1, W H Scott, K M Coyne
1Biological Resources Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA.
AIHAJ : a Journal for the Science of Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety
|January 5, 2002
Summary
Wearing military respirators significantly hinders telephone communication accuracy and speed. A new protocol improved accuracy without adding time, nearly matching non-respirator performance.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health
- Communication Engineering
- Human Factors Engineering
Background:
- Military respirators impede clear telephone communication, affecting word comprehension and recognition.
- Previous attempts using electronic amplification offered no significant improvement for respirator- users.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of various commercial respirator configurations on telephone communication.
- To assess the effectiveness of a specific communication protocol in mitigating respirator-induced communication deficits.
Main Methods:
- Twelve pairs of subjects communicated via telephone in separate rooms.
- Modified rhyme-test words were transmitted to assess listener accuracy and speed.
- Two replications were conducted: one without a protocol, and one with a protocol guiding handset positioning.
Main Results:
- The communication protocol significantly improved accuracy across most tested respirators.
- No additional time penalty was observed when using the protocol.
- Despite improvements, comprehension speed remained approximately twice as fast without a respirator.
Conclusions:
- A simple communication protocol can substantially enhance telephone communication accuracy for military respirator users.
- The protocol effectively compensates for some of the intelligibility loss caused by respirators.
- Further research may explore respirator designs optimized for clear voice transmission.