A Study on Voice Changes due to Wearing a Mask by COVID-19

Abstract

People worldwide suffer from the long-term pain of having to wear a mask for a long time when fighting a longterm battle with COVID-19. Nevertheless, the situation is even more difficult as people must fulfill their respective roles in all areas of society. In particular, voice actors and announcers who have to deliver their voice through broadcasting are in a situation where they are contemplating whether they should continue to work while wearing a mask or take them off. From that point of view, in this paper, we studied how much difference in voice change between wearing a mask and not wearing a mask is caused when recording through a microphone. Depending on the person, there was a big difference or a little difference in each case, but in general, when not wearing a mask, when wearing a dental mask, or when wearing a KF94 mask, the voice became weaker in that order. There was no difference according to gender, but the younger the age, the less the difference was due to wearing the mask, and the older the age, the greater the change in voice due to wearing the mask. However, for those who usually had a clear voice, there was not much difference between wearing a mask and not wearing a mask. In conclusion, it is judged that among those who use their voice for broadcasting, those with distinct voice energy can record wearing a dental mask. © 2022 Seventh Sense Research Group®.