Use of masks inside the classrooms

To counter the transmission of Covid -19 it is mandatory to wear face masks. Medical face masks (surgical or other medical devices) are used to control the spread of infection by reducing the air borne dispersion of the viral load-carrying saliva droplets emitted from the mouth when talking, sneezing, or coughing. The use of the masks can cause fatigue, difficulty in breathing and reduced speech understanding. In school classrooms, the use of masks could lead to a limitation of speech understanding and this can affect both the learning level of pupils and cause vocal dysfunctions in teachers who incur an overload of the speech apparatus. To investigate the effects of using of the masks in learning environments, tests were carried out with pupils of a primary school. The students must transcribe a dictation read by the teacher according to two configurations: with and without a mask. Subsequently, the texts written by the children were analyzed to assess the presence of possible errors in the understanding of the dictation administered with and without a mask.