Outbreak trends of fatality rate into coronavirus disease-2019 using deep learning

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the novel coronavirus as global pandemic on 11 March 2020. It was known to originate from Wuhan, China and its spread is unstoppable due to no proper medication and vaccine. The developed forecasting models predict the number of cases and its fatality rate for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is highly impulsive. This paper provides intrinsic algorithms namely - linear regression and long short-term memory (LSTM) using deep learning for time series-based prediction. It also uses the ReLU activation function and Adam optimiser. This paper also reports a comparative study on existing models for COVID-19 cases from different continents in the world. It also provides an extensive model that shows a brief prediction about the number of cases and time for recovered, active and deaths rate till January 2021.Copyright © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The effect of wearing face mask on speech intelligibility in listeners with sensorineural hearing loss and normal hearing sensitivity.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the effect of wearing a face mask on word recognition in hearing-impaired listeners. DESIGN: Word recognition scores were obtained in quiet and in different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs 0, +5, and +10 dB) using two listening conditions (with N95 mask and with no-mask). STUDY SAMPLE: Participants were forty-six listeners with normal hearing sensitivity and thirty-nine listeners with mild to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss. RESULTS: Results showed that wearing a face mask affected word recognition and that this effect was greater for listeners with hearing impairment than that observed for listeners with normal hearing sensitivity. The extent of this effect was also dependent on the SNR conditions such that the effect of wearing a face mask was worse in adverse listening conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study demonstrated that face mask can disrupt speech intelligibility possibly by degrading some acoustical features which may pose substantial difficulties for those with hearing impairment.

"Eyes don't say it all” - Communication challenges while wearing facemasks in class

Facemasks are personal protective equipment worn to reduce the risk of the transmission of Covid-19. University students and teachers/lecturers in Serbia are required to wear facemasks in class at all times. However, such practice may cause challenges in student-teacher communication. We present students' experiences regarding speech intelligibility in the educational setting. We distributed an anonymous online questionnaire among students from various universities. Speaking with a facemask in class creates communication challenges for teachers and students alike. Students claim that teachers often have difficulties understanding students who speak wearing masks;teachers often ask students to repeat the sentence, and teachers often ask students to speak louder. Similarly, when teachers talk with their facemasks, students often report not hearing or understanding teachers back. In turn, students would ask teachers to repeat the sentence and raise voices. Students pay more attention to teachers' facial expressions, hand gestures, body language, and tone of voice. Students tend to engage their non-verbal interaction skills more often to facilitate communication. We further discuss the differences regarding students' gender and the type of facemask typically worn. We express concern that the inability to communicate clearly may cause annoyance and frustration in the academic setting. © 2022 Internoise 2022 - 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering. All rights reserved.

Acoustical Effects of Surgical and N95 Masks on Speech Perception in Open-plan Offices

Wearing face masks (alongside physical distancing) provides some protection against COVID-19. Face masks can also change how people communicate and subsequently affect speech signal quality. This study investigated how two common face mask types affect acoustic analysis of speech perception. Quantitative and qualitative assessments were carried out in terms of measuring the sound pressure levels and playing back to a group of people. The responses gauged proved that masks alter the speech signal with downstream effects on speech intelligibility of a speaker. Masks muffle speech sounds at higher frequencies and hence the acoustic effect of a speaker wearing a face mask is equivalent to the listener having slight high frequency hearing loss. When asked on the perception of audibility, over 83% of the participants were able to clearly hear the no mask audio clip, however, 41% of the participants thought it was moderately audible with N95 and face shield masks. Due to no visual access, face masks act as communication barriers with 50% of the people finding to understand people because they could not read their lips. Nevertheless, based on these findings it is reasonable to hypothesize that wearing a mask would attenuate speech spectra at similar frequency bands. © 2022 Internoise 2022 - 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering. All rights reserved.

Effects of visual information on the face masked speech communication in Covid-secure classrooms

Acoustical measurements and speech intelligibility tests were carried out to investigate the effects of masks on speech communication experienced in real Covid-secure university classrooms during the pandemic. Face-masked speech levels and noise levels were measured to understand the acoustical effects of masks on speech sounds during 15 multiple lectures in 3 university classrooms. The speech intelligibility scores were also evaluated for lower and higher SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) conditions, and for with and without the presence of visual information conditions to investigate the effects of both the acoustic and visual signals in understanding speech communication in actual classroom situations. In the 3 active university classrooms the students experienced on average: speech levels of 55.1 dBA (σ = 5.5 dBA), noise levels of 42.3 dBA (σ = 3.9 dBA), and a speech-to-noise ratio of 12.8 dBA σ = 5.2 dBA). The mean SNR values at the listener's position for the 15 lectures varied from 3.6 dBA to 20.0 dBA. The use of a portable sound amplification system increases the face-masked speech levels mostly at mid and high frequencies (500–4 kHz), thus it can be more useful for achieving higher SNR values in classrooms. The presence of visual cues have little effect on achieving more higher speech intelligibility scores in higher SNR conditions. The present results show that visual obstruction of the talker's mouth decreases speech intelligibility scores by a maximum of 10% in lower SNR conditions, particularly at a SNR of 6 dBA or lower. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Effect of facemasks on speech intelligibility

With the advent of COVID, the wearing of face covering has been obligatory in both medical and everyday life. This paper describes three experiments undertaken to establish the effect of face coverings on speech sound power, speech directivity and speech intelligibility. The experiments used two different approaches: acoustic measurements and word scores. The face coverings assessed were a 'standard blue' surgical mask, a typical fabric mask, a prototype clear mask and a plastic transparent visor. The study showed that non-native English speakers had by far the most difficulty in comprehending English language speech when face coverings were worn during phonetically-balanced word list tests. All the masks were found to noticeably affect speech intelligibility, with the surgical mask having the least detrimental effect. The results are also compared to objective measurements of their physical acoustic characteristics to establish their performance. © 2022 Internoise 2022 - 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering. All rights reserved.

The effect of wearing face masks on voice and intelligibility of speech during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: The study aims at evaluating the effect of wearing face masks on voice and intelligibility of speech in Egyptian working individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify if there are any adverse effects of wearing face masks in the working environment. Materials and methods: A cross-section analytical study was conducted on 153 participants. Personal data and data about the nature of their workplaces were collected. The evaluation included a subjective assessment of voice and intelligibility of speech using a specifically designed questionnaire addressing self-perception of voice fatigue, speech unintelligibility, received auditory feedback and breathing difficulty, and objective voice assessment by Computerized Speech Lab, while objective speech unintelligibility assessment by the Arabic Speech Intelligibility Test. Results: The study revealed poor workplace acoustics and increased their self-perception of voice fatigue, speech unintelligibility, auditory feedback, and breathing difficulty while wearing masks. Medical professionals showed increased self-perception of speech unintelligibility and the received auditory feedback. No significant difference was found in absolute jitter with and without a face mask. Increasing shimmer and mean fundamental frequency and decreasing noise to harmonic ratio and maximum phonation time were found. The study revealed decreased speech intelligibility especially with the N95 mask. Conclusion: Wearing face masks negatively affects communication in the workplace, with poor room acoustics. It affects both speech intelligibility and voice subjectively and objectively. It caused increased self-perception of voice fatigue and changes in objective voice parameters. © 2023, The Author(s).

Face Mask Speech Impairment, Evidences from Preschool to High School

The face masks are one of the best tools to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Although these could stop being used in a future, there are plenty of application where their use is needed. For this reason, their study in terms of health effects and speech intelligibility and articulation index could be interesting. In this research, a survey was carried out to know the effect of wearing face mask in different education levels. Besides, a study of the speech intelligibility, articulation index and sound quality evaluations were carried out to research which type of the face mask should be used in education settings. The results suggest that there is a correlation between the health effects due to the use of the face mask and the gender or the type of contract. Additionally, there are significant differences in terms of speech intelligibility, articulation index and loudness depending on the type of face mask used, the distance between students and teachers and if the students have hearing-impaired. Thus, this paper can provide a guidance on how to choose the best face mask to improve speech understanding when communicating with other people, especially in education settings. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Challenging Times for Cochlear Implant Users - Effect of Face Masks on Audiovisual Speech Understanding during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Unhindered auditory and visual signals are essential for a sufficient speech understanding of cochlear implant (CI) users. Face masks are an important hygiene measurement against the COVID-19 virus but disrupt these signals. This study determinates the extent and the mechanisms of speech intelligibility alteration in CI users caused by different face masks. The audiovisual German matrix sentence test was used to determine speech reception thresholds (SRT) in noise in different conditions (audiovisual, audio-only, speechreading and masked audiovisual using two different face masks). Thirty-seven CI users and ten normal-hearing listeners (NH) were included. CI users showed a reduction in speech reception threshold of 5.0 dB due to surgical mask and 6.5 dB due to FFP2 mask compared to the audiovisual condition without mask. The greater proportion of reduction in SRT by mask could be accounted for by the loss of the visual signal (up to 4.5 dB). The effect of each mask was significantly larger in CI users who exclusively hear with their CI (surgical: 7.8 dB, p = 0.005 and FFP2: 8.7 dB, p = 0.01) compared to NH (surgical: 3.8 dB and FFP2: 5.1 dB). This study confirms that CI users who exclusively rely on their CI for hearing are particularly susceptible. Therefore, visual signals should be made accessible for communication whenever possible, especially when communicating with CI users.

Face Mask Speech Impairment, Evidences from Preschool to High School

The face masks are one of the best tools to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Although these could stop being used in a future, there are plenty of application where their use is needed. For this reason, their study in terms of health effects and speech intelligibility and articulation index could be interesting. In this research, a survey was carried out to know the effect of wearing face mask in different education levels. Besides, a study of the speech intelligibility, articulation index and sound quality evaluations were carried out to research which type of the face mask should be used in education settings. The results suggest that there is a correlation between the health effects due to the use of the face mask and the gender or the type of contract. Additionally, there are significant differences in terms of speech intelligibility, articulation index and loudness depending on the type of face mask used, the distance between students and teachers and if the students have hearing-impaired. Thus, this paper can provide a guidance on how to choose the best face mask to improve speech understanding when communicating with other people, especially in education settings. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The influence of face masks on speech intelligibility of cochlear implant users

Hearing impaired listeners heavily rely on facial expressions and unfiltered speech signals for a sufficient speech understanding. Due to the current Cov-id-19 pandemic face masks are worn by almost everyone every day. They therefore interfere especially with the communication of hearing impaired listeners. We used a modified audiovisual German matrix sentence test (AV-OLSA) 1 to further evaluate the effect of face masks on speech intelligibility in a cohort of cochlear implant users (CI, n = 15) and a control group of normal hearing listeners (NH, n = 5). Besides “audio-only”, “visual-only” and “audiovisual” conditions, we added modified conditions. These consisted of an audiovisual condition with a simulated mask and an audio signal, which was edited according to the acoustic filter properties of different face masks (surgical and FFP-2). Our preliminary data show a gain of 5.3 dB (CI) and 2.6 dB (NH) in speech reception thresholds at 80 % word recognition (SRT80%) respectively, if a speaker's video is added to an unfiltered audio signal. Different types of face masks (surgical and FFP-2) led to a deterioration in SRT80% in both groups of up to 7.6 dB (CI) and 4.2 dB (NH) when compared to an unfiltered audiovisual condition without a face mask. The acoustic filter properties of the face masks accounted for up to 2.2 dB (CI) and 1.5 dB (NH) of the deterioration in SRT80%. This effect was therefore less distinct compared to the effect of a missing video signal. Face masks complicate the daily communication. These effects are already detectable in a cohort of normal hearing listeners 2 and even more pronounced in hearing impaired listeners, e.g. cochlear implant users.

Face Masks Impact Auditory and Audiovisual Consonant Recognition in Children With and Without Hearing Loss.

Teachers and students are wearing face masks in many classrooms to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Face masks disrupt speech understanding by concealing lip-reading cues and reducing transmission of high-frequency acoustic speech content. Transparent masks provide greater access to visual speech cues than opaque masks but tend to cause greater acoustic attenuation. This study examined the effects of four types of face masks on auditory-only and audiovisual speech recognition in 18 children with bilateral hearing loss, 16 children with normal hearing, and 38 adults with normal hearing tested in their homes, as well as 15 adults with normal hearing tested in the laboratory. Stimuli simulated the acoustic attenuation and visual obstruction caused by four different face masks: hospital, fabric, and two transparent masks. Participants tested in their homes completed auditory-only and audiovisual consonant recognition tests with speech-spectrum noise at 0 dB SNR. Adults tested in the lab completed the same tests at 0 and/or -10 dB SNR. A subset of participants from each group completed a visual-only consonant recognition test with no mask. Consonant recognition accuracy and transmission of three phonetic features (place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing) were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Children with hearing loss identified consonants less accurately than children with normal hearing and adults with normal hearing tested at 0 dB SNR. However, all the groups were similarly impacted by face masks. Under auditory-only conditions, results were consistent with the pattern of high-frequency acoustic attenuation; hospital masks had the least impact on performance. Under audiovisual conditions, transparent masks had less impact on performance than opaque masks. High-frequency attenuation and visual obstruction had the greatest impact on place perception. The latter finding was consistent with the visual-only feature transmission data. These results suggest that the combination of noise and face masks negatively impacts speech understanding in children. The best mask for promoting speech understanding in noisy environments depend on whether visual cues will be accessible: hospital masks are best under auditory-only conditions, but well-fit transparent masks are best when listeners have a clear, consistent view of the talker's face.

The Influence of Face Masks on Verbal Communication in Persian in the Presence of Background Noise in Healthcare Staff.

Wearing face masks has resulted in verbal communication being more challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the effect of face masks on the speech comprehensibility of Persian nurses in healthcare settings. Twenty female nurses from the governmental hospitals randomly participated in an experiment on seven typical commercial face masks at two background noise levels. Nurses' speech intelligibility from a human talker when wearing each face mask was determined based on the speech discrimination score. The vocal effort of nurses wearing each face mask was determined based on the Borg CR10 scale. Based on the linear mixed model, the speech intelligibility of nurses from a human speaker wearing surgical masks, N95 masks, and a shield with face masks were approximately 10%, 20%, and 40-50% lower, respectively, than no-mask conditions (p < 0.01). The background noise decreased the speech intelligibility of nurses by approximately 22% (p < 0.01). The use of a face shield further decreased speech intelligibility up to 30% compared to using a face mask alone (p < 0.01). The vocal efforts of nurses when wearing surgical masks were not significant compared with the baseline vocal efforts (p > 0.05); however, vocal efforts of nurses when wearing N95 and N99 respirators were at an unacceptable level. The face masks had no considerable effect on the speech spectrum below 2.5 kHz; however, they reduced high frequencies by different values. Wearing face masks has a considerable impact on the verbal communication of nurses in Persian. The level of background noise in the healthcare setting can aggravate the effect sizes of face masks on speech comprehensibility.

How facial masks against Covid-19 spread affect the speech spectrum

Introduction: At the aim of counteracting the spread of the infection, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control has provided indications on the suitability of the use of face masks when the social distancing cannot be implemented. Facial masks can alter verbal communication, causing potential safety problems. Methods: Eight types of masks (medical, PPE and cloth), one face-shield and four combinations of the same devices were tested, mounted on Head and Torso Simulator with an artificial mouth. For each configuration, tests were carried out in an anechoic chamber with an appropriate measurement chain for signal acquisition and processing. Results: The results show that medical devices exhibit lower attenuation at high frequencies, even compared to cloth. FFP2 and FFP3 have attenuations greater than 5 dB in the octave bands of 4 and 8 kHz, with negligible influence on acoustic performance due to the presence of valves. Face shield distorts the vocal spectrum, behaving like a low-pass filter with a cut-off frequency around 1 kHz, with a steep slope (with attenuation > 10 dB at 4 and 8 kHz) and an accentuated resonance at 1 kHz (about 6-8 dB), due to the thin PET screen. Clear mask shows low attenuation up to 4 kHz and adds the benefit of lip reading, especially useful for workers with hearing difficulties. Conclusions: These results show that the devices examined can alter the quality of speech. Further insights will concern the assessment of speech intelligibility in order to provide a contribution to an ergonomic design also linked to the acoustic comfort of these devices, which would be desirable in a post-p

Short report on the effects of SARS-CoV-2 face protective equipment on verbal communication.

OBJECTIVE: To predict the impact of face personal protective equipment on verbal communication during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. DESIGN: We assessed the effect of common types and combinations of face personal protective equipment on speech intelligibility in quiet and in a simulated noisy environment. RESULTS: Wearing face personal protective equipment impairs transmission of middle-to-high voice frequencies and affects speech intelligibility. Surgical masks are responsible for up to 23.3% loss of speech intelligibility in noisy environments. The effects are larger in the condition of advanced face personal protective equipment, accounting for up to 69.0% reduction of speech intelligibility. CONCLUSION: The use of face personal protective equipment causes significant verbal communication issues. Healthcare workers, school-aged children, and people affected by voice and hearing disorders may represent specific at-risk groups for impaired speech intelligibility.

Effects of Wearing Face Masks While Using Different Speaking Styles in Noise on Speech Intelligibility During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the recommended/required use of face masks in public. The use of a face mask compromises communication, especially in the presence of competing noise. It is crucial to measure the potential effects of wearing face masks on speech intelligibility in noisy environments where excessive background noise can create communication challenges. The effects of wearing transparent face masks and using clear speech to facilitate better verbal communication were evaluated in this study. We evaluated listener word identification scores in the following four conditions: (1) type of mask condition (i.e., no mask, transparent mask, and disposable face mask), (2) presentation mode (i.e., auditory only and audiovisual), (3) speaking style (i.e., conversational speech and clear speech), and (4) with two types of background noise (i.e., speech shaped noise and four-talker babble at -5 signal-to-noise ratio). Results indicate that in the presence of noise, listeners performed less well when the speaker wore a disposable face mask or a transparent mask compared to wearing no mask. Listeners correctly identified more words in the audiovisual presentation when listening to clear speech. Results indicate the combination of face masks and the presence of background noise negatively impact speech intelligibility for listeners. Transparent masks facilitate the ability to understand target sentences by providing visual information. Use of clear speech was shown to alleviate challenging communication situations including compensating for a lack of visual cues and reduced acoustic signals.

Acoustic Effect of Face Mask Design and Material Choice.

The widespread adoption of face masks is now a standard public health response to the 2020 pandemic. Although studies have shown that wearing a face mask interferes with speech and intelligibility, relating the acoustic response of the mask to design parameters such as fabric choice, number of layers and mask geometry is not well understood. Using a dummy head mounted with a loudspeaker at its mouth generating a broadband signal, we report the acoustic response associated with 10 different masks (different material/design) and the effect of material layers; a small number of masks were found to be almost acoustically transparent (minimal losses). While different mask material and design result in different frequency responses, we find that material selection has somewhat greater influence on transmission characteristics than mask design or geometry choices. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40857-021-00245-2.