Project BREATHE - Prototype Respirator Evaluation Utilizing Newly Proposed Respirator Test Criteria

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Biomedical Engineering
• Respiratory Protection

Background:

• Healthcare workers report comfort and tolerance issues with filtering facepiece respirators (FFR).
• Existing respirator testing may not adequately address user-reported comfort and tolerance concerns.
• New test criteria have been proposed to evaluate FFRs based on user feedback.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate prototype and commercial filtering facepiece respirators (FFR) using newly proposed test criteria.
• To assess FFR performance regarding comfort and tolerance issues identified by healthcare workers.
• To determine the effectiveness of new criteria in identifying FFRs suitable for user compliance.

Main Methods:

• Machine and human subject testing of four prototype and two commercial FFRs.
• Application of recently proposed respirator test criteria addressing comfort and tolerance.
• Quantitative respirator fit testing was performed on human subjects.

Main Results:

• Two FFRs (one prototype, one commercial) passed all eight proposed criteria.
• Three FFRs (two prototypes, one commercial) passed seven out of eight criteria.
• One prototype FFR could not be fully tested due to failed fit testing.

Conclusions:

• The proposed criteria show promise in evaluating FFR comfort and tolerance.
• Some prototype and commercial FFRs demonstrate potential for improved user compliance.
• Further research with diverse FFR models is necessary to confirm the utility of the proposed criteria.