Effect of Mouth Mask and Face Shield on Speech Spectrum in Slovak Language

In this paper, with the aim of assessing the deterioration of speech intelligibility caused by a speaker wearing a mask, different face masks (surgical masks, FFP2 mask, homemade textile-based protection and two kinds of plastic shields) are compared in terms of their acoustic filtering effect, measured by placing the mask on an artificial head/mouth simulator. For investigating the additional effects on the speaker’s vocal output, speech was also recorded while people were reading a text when wearing a mask, and without a mask. In order to discriminate between effects of acoustic filtering by the mask and mask-induced effects of vocal output changes, the latter was monitored by measuring vibrations at the suprasternal notch, using an attached accelerometer. It was found that when wearing a mask, people tend to slightly increase their voice level, while when wearing plastic face shield, they reduce their vocal power. Unlike the Lombard effect, no significant change was found in the spectral content. All face mask and face shields attenuate frequencies above 1–2 kHz. In addition, plastic shields also increase frequency components to around 800 Hz, due to resonances occurring between the face and the shield. Finally, special attention was given to the Slavic languages, in particular Slovak, which contain a large variety of sibilants. Male and female speech, as well as texts with and without sibilants, was compared.

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Examining the interplay between face mask usage, asymptomatic transmission, and social distancing on the spread of COVID-19

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-94960-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Adam Catching ◽

Sara Capponi ◽

Ming Te Yeh ◽

Simone Bianco ◽

Raul Andino

Keyword(s):

Social Distance ◽

Large Fraction ◽

Real Life ◽

Virus Transmission ◽

Face Mask ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Viral Spread ◽

The Face ◽

Asymptomatic Individuals ◽

High Virus

AbstractCOVID-19’s high virus transmission rates have caused a pandemic that is exacerbated by the high rates of asymptomatic and presymptomatic infections. These factors suggest that face masks and social distance could be paramount in containing the pandemic. We examined the efficacy of each measure and the combination of both measures using an agent-based model within a closed space that approximated real-life interactions. By explicitly considering different fractions of asymptomatic individuals, as well as a realistic hypothesis of face masks protection during inhaling and exhaling, our simulations demonstrate that a synergistic use of face masks and social distancing is the most effective intervention to curb the infection spread. To control the pandemic, our models suggest that high adherence to social distance is necessary to curb the spread of the disease, and that wearing face masks provides optimal protection even if only a small portion of the population comply with social distance. Finally, the face mask effectiveness in curbing the viral spread is not reduced if a large fraction of population is asymptomatic. Our findings have important implications for policies that dictate the reopening of social gatherings.

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Effects of Face Mask Use on Objective and Subjective Measures of Thermoregulation During Exercise in the Heat

Sports Health A Multidisciplinary Approach ◽

10.1177/19417381211028212 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 194173812110282

Author(s):

Ayami Yoshihara ◽

Erin E. Dierickx ◽

Gabrielle J. Brewer ◽

Yasuki Sekiguchi ◽

Rebecca L. Stearns ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Exercise Intensity ◽

Thermal Sensation ◽

Face Mask ◽

Whole Body ◽

Moderate Exercise ◽

Physically Active ◽

Time Points ◽

The Face ◽

And Control ◽

Moderate Exercise Intensity

Background: While increased face mask use has helped reduce COVID-19 transmission, there have been concerns about its influence on thermoregulation during exercise in the heat, but consistent, evidence-based recommendations are lacking. Hypothesis: No physiological differences would exist during low-to-moderate exercise intensity in the heat between trials with and without face masks, but perceptual sensations could vary. Study Design: Crossover study. Level of Evidence: Level 2. Methods: Twelve physically active participants (8 male, 4 female; age = 24 ± 3 years) completed 4 face mask trials and 1 control trial (no mask) in the heat (32.3°C ± 0.04°C; 54.4% ± 0.7% relative humidity [RH]). The protocol was 60 minutes of walking and jogging between 35% and 60% of relative VO2max. Rectal temperature (Trec), heart rate (HR), temperature and humidity inside and outside of the face mask (Tmicro_in, Tmicro_out, RHmicro_in, RHmicro_out) and perceptual variables (rating of perceived exertion (RPE), thermal sensation, thirst sensation, fatigue level, and overall breathing discomfort) were monitored throughout all trials. Results: Mean Trec and HR increased at 30- and 60-minute time points compared with 0-minute time points, but no difference existed between face mask trials and control trials ( P > 0.05). Mean Tmicro_in, RHmicro_in, and humidity difference inside and outside of the face mask (ΔRHmicro) were significantly different between face mask trials ( P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in perceptual variables between face mask trials and control trials ( P > 0.05), except overall breathing discomfort ( P < 0.01). Higher RHmicro_in, RPE, and thermal sensation significantly predicted higher overall breathing discomfort ( r2 = 0.418; P < 0.01). Conclusion: Face mask use during 60 minutes of low-to-moderate exercise intensity in the heat did not significantly affect Trec or HR. Although face mask use may affect overall breathing discomfort due to the changes in the face mask microenvironment, face mask use itself did not cause an increase in whole body thermal stress. Clinical Relevance: Face mask use is feasible and safe during exercise in the heat, at low-to-moderate exercise intensities, for physically active, healthy individuals.

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Antibacterial and In Vivo Studies of a Green, One-Pot Preparation of Copper/Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle-Coated Bandages

Membranes ◽

10.3390/membranes11070462 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 462

Author(s):

Archana R. Deokar ◽

Ilana Perelshtein ◽

Melissa Saibene ◽

Nina Perkas ◽

Paride Mantecca ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Zinc Oxide ◽

Metal Oxide ◽

Ultrasound Irradiation ◽

Face Mask ◽

In Vivo Studies ◽

One Pot ◽

The Face ◽

Bulk Scale ◽

Particle Size And Shape

Simultaneous water and ethanol-based synthesis and coating of copper and zinc oxide (CuO/ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) on bandages was carried out by ultrasound irradiation. High resolution-transmission electron microscopy demonstrated the effects of the solvent on the particle size and shape of metal oxide NPs. An antibacterial activity study of metal-oxide-coated bandages was carried out against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative). CuO NP-coated bandages made from both water and ethanol demonstrated complete killing of S. aureus and E. coli bacteria within 30 min., whereas ZnO NP-coated bandages demonstrated five-log reductions in viability for both kinds of bacteria after 60 min of interaction. Further, the antibacterial mechanism of CuO/ZnO NP-coated bandages is proposed here based on electron spin resonance studies. Nanotoxicology investigations were conducted via in vivo examinations of the effect of the metal-oxide bandages on frog embryos (teratogenesis assay—Xenopus). The results show that water-based coatings resulted in lesser impacts on embryo development than the ethanol-based ones. These bandages should therefore be considered safer than the ethanol-based ones. The comparison between the toxicity of the metal oxide NPs prepared in water and ethanol is of great importance, because water will replace ethanol for bulk scale synthesis of metal oxide NPs in commercial companies to avoid further ignition problems. The novelty and importance of this manuscript is avoiding the ethanol in the typical water:ethanol mixture as the solvent for the preparation of metal oxide NPs. Ethanol is ignitable, and commercial companies are trying the evade its use. This is especially important these days, as the face mask produced by sonochemistry (SONOMASK) is being sold all over the world by SONOVIA, and it is coated with ZnO.

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IoT and Deep Learning Based Approach for Rapid Screening and Face Mask Detection for Infection Spread Control of COVID-19

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11083495 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 3495

Author(s):

Shabir Hussain ◽

Yang Yu ◽

Muhammad Ayoub ◽

Akmal Khan ◽

Rukhshanda Rehman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Deep Learning ◽

Low Cost ◽

Face Mask ◽

World Health ◽

Rapid Screening ◽

Screening System ◽

Source Of Infection ◽

The Face ◽

Health Organization ◽

Vaccine Distribution

The spread of COVID-19 has been taken on pandemic magnitudes and has already spread over 200 countries in a few months. In this time of emergency of COVID-19, especially when there is still a need to follow the precautions and developed vaccines are not available to all the developing countries in the first phase of vaccine distribution, the virus is spreading rapidly through direct and indirect contacts. The World Health Organization (WHO) provides the standard recommendations on preventing the spread of COVID-19 and the importance of face masks for protection from the virus. The excessive use of manual disinfection systems has also become a source of infection. That is why this research aims to design and develop a low-cost, rapid, scalable, and effective virus spread control and screening system to minimize the chances and risk of spread of COVID-19. We proposed an IoT-based Smart Screening and Disinfection Walkthrough Gate (SSDWG) for all public places entrance. The SSDWG is designed to do rapid screening, including temperature measuring using a contact-free sensor and storing the record of the suspected individual for further control and monitoring. Our proposed IoT-based screening system also implemented real-time deep learning models for face mask detection and classification. This module classified individuals who wear the face mask properly, improperly, and without a face mask using VGG-16, MobileNetV2, Inception v3, ResNet-50, and CNN using a transfer learning approach. We achieved the highest accuracy of 99.81% while using VGG-16 and the second highest accuracy of 99.6% using MobileNetV2 in the mask detection and classification module. We also implemented classification to classify the types of face masks worn by the individuals, either N-95 or surgical masks. We also compared the results of our proposed system with state-of-the-art methods, and we highly suggested that our system could be used to prevent the spread of local transmission and reduce the chances of human carriers of COVID-19.

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Facial Recognition System for People with and without Face Mask in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13126900 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (12) ◽

pp. 6900

Author(s):

Jonathan S. Talahua ◽

Jorge Buele ◽

P. Calvopiña ◽

José Varela-Aldás

Keyword(s):

Facial Recognition ◽

Face Mask ◽

Recognition System ◽

Classification Model ◽

World Health ◽

The Face ◽

Recognition Systems ◽

Facial Recognition System ◽

Health Organization ◽

Face Detector

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the use of a face mask as a mandatory biosafety measure. This has caused problems in current facial recognition systems, motivating the development of this research. This manuscript describes the development of a system for recognizing people, even when they are using a face mask, from photographs. A classification model based on the MobileNetV2 architecture and the OpenCv’s face detector is used. Thus, using these stages, it can be identified where the face is and it can be determined whether or not it is wearing a face mask. The FaceNet model is used as a feature extractor and a feedforward multilayer perceptron to perform facial recognition. For training the facial recognition models, a set of observations made up of 13,359 images is generated; 52.9% images with a face mask and 47.1% images without a face mask. The experimental results show that there is an accuracy of 99.65% in determining whether a person is wearing a mask or not. An accuracy of 99.52% is achieved in the facial recognition of 10 people with masks, while for facial recognition without masks, an accuracy of 99.96% is obtained.

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A Novel Artificial Face Mask based Nanofibers with Special Intelligent Engineered Nanocomposite Against Covid-19

10.54216/jcim.050203 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. PP. 21-22

Author(s):

Ahmed A. Elngar ◽

◽

S.I. El El-Dek

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Resource Allocation ◽

Pattern Recognition ◽

Disease Management ◽

Face Mask ◽

Vital Role ◽

Mobile Unit ◽

Disease Clusters ◽

Infected People ◽

The Face

We introduce our idea about a new face mask against Covid-19. Herein our novel face mask is a polymeric matrix of nanofibers. These nanofibers are decorated with special engineered nanocomposite. The later possesses antiviral, antimicrobial. A well-established IR temperature biosensor will be implanted in the face mask and connected to the mobile phone using App (Seek thermal) to allow temperature monitoring. Artificial Intelligence can play a vital role in the fight against COVID-19. AI is being successfully used in the identification of disease clusters, monitoring of cases, prediction of the future outbreaks, mortality risk, diagnosis of COVID-19, disease management by resource allocation, facilitating training, record maintenance and pattern recognition for studying the disease trend. Therefore, AI is used as a type of alarm which be connected through Global Position System (GPS) to a central networking system to monitor the crowded areas of probable infections. In this case, the hospital in this neighborhood will be charged to let a mobile unit of assessment travel quickly to the infected people areas.

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Mythologizing the face mask: How protective covers became political during the fine-dust and COVID-19 crises in South Korea

International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics ◽

10.1386/macp_00044_1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 97-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tae-Sik Kim

Keyword(s):

News Media ◽

Face Mask ◽

Risk Society ◽

Fine Dust ◽

South Korean ◽

Korean Government ◽

External Threat ◽

The Face ◽

Primary Means ◽

Symbolic Code

This study aimed to demonstrate how South Korean news media routinized and sensationalized the face mask amid two recent public health crises: the fine-dust crisis and the COVID-19 epidemic. News media appropriated the mythologized meaning of the face mask as a symbol of individual safety during the two crises. This study analyses news articles to answer three questions: (1) How was wearing the face mask mythologized as a routinized practice in days of uncertain risk? (2) How was the face mask politicized as a mythologized sign indicating China as an external threat? and (3) How was the face mask politicized as a symbolic code of the government’s responsibility for the crisis? Once signified as the primary means of individual protection in the context of Korean risk society, the face mask became politicized amid the shortage of the face mask. Placed in the context of the recent disastrous crises in Korea, China was identified as the culprit not only in the epidemic but also in the shortage of the face mask. The meaning of China as an external threat was continuously strengthened when the South Korean government opted out of the entry ban on Chinese citizens. The last analytic part presents how news media politicized the epidemic by associating the face mask crisis with the Korean government.

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State model based face mask detection

International Journal of Engineering & Technology ◽

10.14419/ijet.v7i2.22.11805 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (2.22) ◽

pp. 35

Author(s):

Kavitha M ◽

Mohamed Mansoor Roomi S ◽

K Priya ◽

Bavithra Devi K

Keyword(s):

Face Mask ◽

Search Space ◽

Gaussian Mixture ◽

Detection Algorithm ◽

State Model ◽

Face Region ◽

Automatic Teller Machine ◽

Foreground Region ◽

The Face ◽

Surveillance Mechanism

The Automatic Teller Machine plays an important role in the modern economic society. ATM centers are located in remote central which are at high risk due to the increasing crime rate and robbery.These ATM centers assist with surveillance techniques to provide protection. Even after installing the surveillance mechanism, the robbers fool the security system by hiding their face using mask/helmet. Henceforth, an automatic mask detection algorithm is required to, alert when the ATM is at risk. In this work, the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is applied for foreground detection to extract the regions of interest (ROI) i.e. Human being. Face region is acquired from the foreground region through the torso partitioning and applying Viola-Jones algorithm in this search space. Parts of the face such as Eye pair, Nose, and Mouth are extracted and a state model is developed to detect mask.

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Face Mask Use Conditionally Decreases Compliance With Physical Distancing Rules Against COVID-19: Gender Differences in Risk Compensation Pattern

Annals of Behavioral Medicine ◽

10.1093/abm/kaab072 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Aranguren

Keyword(s):

Social Status ◽

Face Mask ◽

Risk Compensation ◽

High Status ◽

Compensatory Behavior ◽

Traffic Lights ◽

Time Period ◽

The Face ◽

The One ◽

Lower Adherence

Abstract Background In the context of the COVID-19 emergency, the concern has been raised that people may compensate the reduction in risk ensured by mask use with an increase in risk induced by lower adherence to physical distancing rules. Purpose The paper investigates if people compensate risk in this manner when their interaction partner wears a face mask, examining if risk compensation further depends on gender, signaled social status and perceived race. Methods An experiment was conducted in two waves (June, n = 1396 and September 2020, n = 1326) in front of the traffic lights of four busy roads in Paris. A confederate asked a randomly selected pedestrian for directions following a script and keeping the recommended distance. Confederates were locally recognizable as Blacks or Whites and alternatively presented themselves with a costume indicative of high or low social status. An observer recorded whether the pedestrian kept the recommended distance. Results Both in June and September, men are less likely to comply with the distancing rule when the confederate wears the face mask, and particularly so when the confederate signals high status. When the confederate wears the mask, female pedestrians observe less the one-meter rule in September than in June. Conclusions Men’s risk compensatory behavior is constant over time. In contrast, women’s depends on the time period.

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Effect of a Taped Filter Mask on Perceived Breathlessness, Heart Rate, Lactate and Oxygen Saturation During a Graded Exercise Test

10.21203/rs.3.rs-654495/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hoi Lam Ng ◽

Johannes Trefz ◽

Martin Schönfelder ◽

Henning Wackerhage

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Oxygen Saturation ◽

Exercise Test ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Face Mask ◽

Cycle Ergometer ◽

Peripheral Oxygen Saturation ◽

Graded Exercise Test ◽

Graded Exercise ◽

The Face

Abstract Background: Face masks are an effective, non-pharmacological strategy to reduce the transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and other pathogens. However, it is a challenge to keep masks sealed during exercise, as ventilation can increase from 5-10 L/min at rest to up to 200 L/min so that masks may be blown away from the face. To reduce leakage e.g. during exercise, a face mask was developed that is taped onto the face. The aim of this study was to investigate during a graded cycle ergometry test the effect of a taped mask on the perception of breathlessness, heart rate, lactate, and oxygen saturation when compared to a surgical mask and no mask.Methods: Four trained and healthy males and females each (n=8 in total) performed incremental cycle ergometer tests until voluntary exhaustion under three conditions: (1) No mask/control, (2) surgical mask or (3) taped mask. During these tests, we measured perception of breathlessness, heart rate, the concentration of blood lactate and peripheral oxygen saturation and analysed the resultant data with one or two-way repeated measures ANOVAs. We also used a questionnaire to evaluate mask comfort and analysed the data with paired t-tests. Results: When compared to wearing no mask, a taped face mask significantly reduces the maximal workload in a graded exercise test by 12±6% (p=0.001). Moreover, with a taped face mask, subjects perceive severe breathlessness at 12±9% lower workload (p=0.012) and oxygen saturation at 65% of the maximal workload is 1.5% lower (p=0.018) when compared to wearing no mask. Heart rate and the concentration of lactate were not significantly different at any workload. When compared to wearing a surgical mask, wearing a taped face mask has a significantly better wearing comfort (p=0.038), feels better on the skin (p=0.004), there is a lower sensation of moisture (p=0.026) and wearers perceive that less heat is generated (p=0.021). We found no sex/gender differences for any parameters. Conclusions: A taped mask is well tolerated during light and moderate exercise intensity but reduces maximal exercise capacity.

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