Patient and Health Care Worker Perceptions of Communication and Ability to Identify Emotion When Wearing Standard and Transparent Masks

Accepted for Publication: September 26, 2021.

Published: November 22, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.35386

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2021 Chu JN et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Giovanni Traverso MB, BChir, PhD, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Division of Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139 (cgt20@mit.edu).

Author Contributions: Dr Traverso had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Dr Chu and Ms Collins share co–first authorship.

Concept and design: Chu, Chen, Chai, Dadabhoy, Byrne, Wentworth, DeAndrea-Lazarus, Moreland, Wilson, Ghenand, Hur, Traverso.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Chu, Collins, Chen, Chai, Dadabhoy, Wilson, Booth, Hur.

Drafting of the manuscript: Chu, Collins, Chen, Chai, Dadabhoy, Moreland, Wilson, Hur, Traverso.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Chu, Chai, Dadabhoy, Byrne, Wentworth, DeAndrea-Lazarus, Moreland, Wilson, Booth, Ghenand, Hur, Traverso.

Statistical analysis: Collins.

Obtained funding: Chai, Traverso.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Chen, Chai, Dadabhoy, Byrne, Wentworth, DeAndrea-Lazarus, Moreland, Wilson, Booth, Ghenand, Traverso.

Supervision: Chu, Chai, Wilson, Hur, Traverso.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Chai reported receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Hans and Mavis Psychosocial Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and e Ink Corporation and receiving personal fees from Biobot Analytics outside the submitted work. Dr Byrne reported being founder of and holding equity in Teal Bio during the conduct of the study; holding equity in Advanced Chemotherapy Technologies outside the submitted work; and holding a patent for Elastomeric masks pending. Dr Wentworth reported being a cofounder of Teal Bio outside the submitted work and having a patent for mask design pending. Dr Moreland, Mr DeAndrea-Lazarus, Dr Wilson, and Ms Booth reported being members of the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that supported survey dissemination to deaf and hard of hearing health care professionals. Dr Traverso reported having a financial interest in Teal Bio, a biotechnology company focused on developing the next generation of personal protective equipment including clear respirators, and having provisional patent applications surrounding clear masks pending. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: Dr Chu was supported by grant 5T32DK007191 from the National Institutes of Health. Ms Chen and Mr Ghenand were supported by the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. Dr Chai was supported by grants K23DA044874 and R44DA051106 from the National Institutes of Health. Dr Traverso was supported by the Karl van Tassel (1925) Career Development Professorship and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and the Division of Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The sponsors had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Additional Contributions: We would like to thank Ideas for Ears for sharing their survey with us.