Use of the Performance Assessment Battery to Determine Mask Wearability

摘要

The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the ability of thePerformance Assessment Battery (PAB) to determine mask wearability. The PAB was customized to assess the psychological domains that most influence subjective comfort including a profile of mood state and measurements of sustained attention and reaction time. This PAB battery was administered before, during, and after 60 min of treadmill walking at a moderate intensity. Subjects completed three experimental conditions of mask wear; no mask, wear of the U.S. Army M40 respirator with a standard C2 filter canister, and wear of the M40 with a C2 canister that had its airflow resistance cut in half. These test conditions were selected to enable us to evaluate the ability of the chosen PAB tasks to assess wearability of respirators with significantly different breathing resistances. Results showed that response accuracy, speed, and throughput (responses/min) were analogous between conditions, suggesting that mask acceptability, as measured by the PAB, was similar between the three mask wear conditions. Factors related to exercise intensity and differences in mask inspiratory resistances suggest that additional research may be needed before the value of the PAB as a tool for assessing mask acceptability by wearers can be determined.