Wearing Masks as a Daily Routine... Significantly Reduces Language Recognition Ability in 'Nancheongin'

Nowon Eulji University Hospital Professor Shim Hyun-jun's Team
Improvement Possible with Hearing Aid Use

Professor Shim Hyun-jun, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Nowon Eulji University Hospital.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] It has been confirmed that language recognition ability significantly declined in people with hearing loss due to the widespread use of masks, which became a part of daily life after the COVID-19 pandemic.

A research team led by Professor Shim Hyun-jun of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Nowon Eulji University Hospital conducted a study to examine the effect of hearing aid use. They measured language recognition ability in noisy environments with and without wearing KF94 masks among 24 hearing-impaired individuals using hearing aids and 26 normal-hearing individuals, revealing these results on the 13th.

First, regardless of the listener's hearing ability or the level of surrounding noise, language recognition ability decreased when the speaker wore a mask. In the normal-hearing group, there was a 5.2-point difference in language recognition ability depending on mask use, whereas in the hearing-impaired group, the difference was 7.2 points, showing a larger gap than the normal group. This means that the negative impact of mask-wearing was much greater in the hearing-impaired group.

Language comprehension decreased in both the normal hearing group and the hearing-impaired group when wearing masks. In particular, the gap in language comprehension between the hearing-impaired group widened further depending on whether masks were worn.
[Data provided by Nowon Eulji University Hospital]

Furthermore, within the same hearing-impaired group, language recognition ability improved when wearing hearing aids. In particular, the improvement effect on language recognition gained by wearing hearing aids was 4.3 points when wearing a mask, which was greater than the 2.4 points improvement when not wearing a mask. This proves that hearing aids not only enhance language recognition ability but also partially compensate for the sound distortion caused by masks. This means that hearing-impaired individuals can communicate more smoothly even in environments where masks are worn, as long as they properly use hearing aids.

Professor Shim explained, "Hearing-impaired individuals are at a disadvantage compared to normal-hearing people in understanding speech from speakers wearing masks, but if they use hearing aids, the sound distortion caused by masks can be compensated to some extent," adding, "During the pandemic, the use of hearing aids is even more recommended, and even those who have been using hearing aids should have their language recognition ability tested with speakers wearing masks to readjust their hearing aids if necessary."

The results of this study were published in the latest issue of 'Frontiers in Neuroscience,' a SCIE-level neuroscience journal.