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Speech discrimination challenges of healthcare professionals whilst wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic
  • +11
  • Thomas Hampton,
  • Rosa Crunkhorn,
  • Natalie Lowe,
  • Jaya Bhat,
  • Emma Hogg,
  • Walid Afifi,
  • Madhankumar Krishnan,
  • Ian Street,
  • Sujata DE,
  • Ravi Sharma,
  • Raymond Clarke,
  • Sudhira Ratnayake,
  • Soumit Dasgupta,
  • Sunil Sharma
Thomas Hampton
Alder Hey Children's Hospital

Corresponding Author:thomas.hampton@nhs.net

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Rosa Crunkhorn
Alder Hey Children's Hospital
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Natalie Lowe
Alder Hey Children's Hospital
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Jaya Bhat
Alder Hey Children's Hospital
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Emma Hogg
Alder Hey Children's Hospital
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Walid Afifi
Alder Hey Children's Hospital
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Madhankumar Krishnan
Alder Hey Children's Hospital
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Ian Street
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
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Sujata DE
Alder Hey Children's Hospital
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Ravi Sharma
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
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Raymond Clarke
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation trust
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Sudhira Ratnayake
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
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Soumit Dasgupta
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
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Sunil Sharma
Alder Hey Children's Hospital
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Abstract

Background Coronavirus disease 2019(Covid-19) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been reported to effect communication in healthcare settings. We sought to identify those challenges experimentally. Method Bamford-Kowal-Bench speech discrimination in noise performance of healthcare workers was tested under simulated background noise conditions from a variety of hospital environments. Candidates were assessed for speech intelligibility with and without PPE both at normal speech and raised voice. Results There was a significant difference in speech discrimination scores between normal and PPE wearing subjects in theatre simulated background noise levels (70dB). Conclusion PPE wearing can impact communication and efforts should be made to remind staff about this burden and seek alternative communication paradigms, particularly in theatre environments.