Effect of Wearing Surgical Face Masks on Gas Detection from Respiration Using Photoacoustic Spectroscopy

Wearing surgical face masks is among the measures taken to mitigate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) transmission and deaths. Lately, concern was expressed about the possibility that gases from respiration could build up in the mask over time, causing medical issues related to the respiratory system. In this research study, the carbon dioxide concentration and ethylene in the breathing zone were measured before and immediately after wearing surgical face masks using the photoacoustic spectroscopy method. From the determinations of this study, the C₂H₄ was established to be increased by 1.5% after one hour of wearing the surgical face mask, while CO₂ was established to be at a higher concentration of 1.2% after one hour of wearing the surgical face mask, when the values were correlated with the baseline (control).