Effects of face masks, medical masks and protective face shields on teacher's speech

Diplomski rad pod nazivom „Utjecaj maski za lice, medicinskih maski i zaštitnih pokrivala za lice na govor nastavnika“ istraživačkog je usmjerenja. Njegovo je težište na akustičkoj usporedbi govora bez maski i pokrivala, s govorom tijekom njihove uporabe. U teorijskome dijelu tema je smještena kontekst pandemije korona virusa (COVID-19), opisana su dostupna i široko korištena pokrivala za lice te su prikazana prethodna istraživanja usko povezana s temom rada. Istraživački dio sastoji se od dva istraživanja. Prvo istraživanje je provedeno u studiju za akustička snimanja Odsjeka za fonetiku pri Filozofskome fakultetu u Zagrebu, kojim se ispitao utjecaj različitih pokrivala za lice na govor. Rezultati su pokazali da pokrivala imaju utjecaj na govor na način da zvuk slabi na frekvencijama iznad 1 kHz, a najviše kod upotrebe vizira. U drugom istraživanju se korištenjem ankete ispitao stav nastavnika o govoru s maskom/vizirom u nastavi te eventualne poteškoće u radu. Anketa je pokazala da većina nastavnika negativno ocjenjuje rad s maskama te da zamijećuju pojačanje starih vokalnih tegoba te pojavu novih. S obzirom na to da rad ima metodičku komponentu, u skladu s rezultatima rada iznijeti su savjeti o korištenju maski u nastavi te savjeti za očuvanje glasa i sprečavanje eventualne zloporabe glasa.The thesis entitled "The impact of face masks, medical masks and face shields on teacher speech" is a research thesis. Its focus is on the acoustic comparison of speech without masks and other face covers, with speech during their use. In the theoretical part of the topic, the context of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is explained, available and widely used face covers are described, and previous research closely related to the topic of the paper is presented. The research part consists of two researches. The first research was conducted in the studio for acoustic recordings of the Department of Phonetics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, which examined the influence of different face covers on speech. The results showed that the covers have an effect on speech in such a way that the sound is attenuated at frequencies above 1 kHz, especially when using a visor. In the second research using a survey, the attitude of teachers about speech with a mask / visor in class and possible difficulties in work were examined. The survey showed that most teachers have a negative assessment of working with masks and that they noticed an increase in old vocal problems and the appearance of new ones. Since the paper has a methodological component, in accordance with the results of the paper, advice on the use of masks in teaching and advice on voice preservation and prevention of possible voice abuse were presented