Effect of Powered Air-Purifying Respirators on Speech Recognition Among Health Care Workers.

Autor: Kempfle JS; Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.; Department of Otolaryngology, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.; Department of Otolaryngology, University Medical Center, Tübingen, Germany., Panda A; University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA., Hottin M; Department of Audiology, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA., Vinik K; Department of Otolaryngology, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA., Kozin ED; Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, Massachusetts, USA., Ito CJ; Department of Otolaryngology, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.; University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA., Remenschneider AK; Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.; Department of Otolaryngology, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.; University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.; Department of Audiology, UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery [Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg] 2021 Jan; Vol. 164 (1), pp. 87-90. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Jul 21.
DOI: 10.1177/0194599820945685
Abstrakt: Powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) are used as personalized protective equipment for health care personnel. PAPRs offer health care workers added protection when dealing with patients who have high-risk infectious disease such as COVID-19. Unfortunately, PAPRs can produce notable levels of background noise. We hypothesize that PAPR use may be associated with increased hearing thresholds and impaired word discrimination and may ultimately have a negative impact on effective communication. Herein, we (1) determined sound levels generated by PAPRs and (2) measured hearing thresholds and word discrimination with and without operational PAPRs. All participants had normal hearing. When the PAPR was operational, mean ± SD thresholds increased from 4.5 ± 3.6 to 38.6 ± 5.6 dB HL ( P < .001). Word discrimination dropped from 100% in all participants in quiet to a mean 48% ± 14% with operational PAPR ( P < .001). Thus, we find that use of PAPR hoods results in hearing impairment comparable to moderate to severe hearing loss, and we suspect that users will experience communication difficulties as a result. Level of Evidence. Prospective study.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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