Prolonged mask wearing hinders interpersonal communication 長期戴口罩妨礙人際溝通

During this pandemic, big changes are made to our ways of communication, for example, the ways of greeting and the shift to online meetings. Moreover, face mask has now become a necessity in our daily life. Although it can lower the chance of us catching COVID-19, face mask inevitably muffles sounds and covers facial expression, thus hindering interpersonal communication.

Nonverbal communication, such as facial expression and gestures, plays a very important role in communication. Indeed, it contributes to 55% of our overall communication. It helps us perceive the emotions of each other, forecast events and situations, and develop responses to them. The middle and lower face are especially significant for emotional recognition. Research found that children can recognize fear, surprise, and anger using expressions involving the lower face, and disgust using expressions involving the middle face.

With the mask blocking the lower face structures, we miss a lot of opportunities to read others’ emotion.

自疫情以來，我們溝通的方式作出了許多改變，例如打招呼的方法和網上會議的趨勢。而口罩更是成了我們日常生活中不可或缺的必需品。雖然口罩能大大減少我們感染肺炎的機會，但卻無可奈何令聲音變得模糊和遮蓋面部表情，有礙人與人間的溝通。

非語言溝通，如面部表情，在溝通中十分重要，佔據我們的總溝通方式超過五成。面部表情能助我們解讀他人的情緒、預測及對應事況。臉的中部及下部對解讀情緒特別重要。研究發現小朋友能夠從臉下部中辨識出恐懼、驚訝及憤怒等情緒。當面部表情受口罩所限時，我們將失去許多解讀情緒的機會。

Mheidly, N., Fares, M. Y., Zalzale, H., & Fares, J. (2020). Effect of Face Masks on Interpersonal Communication During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in public health, 8, 582191. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.582191