PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATIONS OF THE VISUAL IMPACTS OF MASK WEARING

Accelerated by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, mask wearing has become and is likely to remain a ubiquitous activity, especially in public spaces. Few published data on the impacts of wearing a mask on visual performance and comfort exist. We describe pilot studies carried out to begin to ascertain the impacts of wearing surgical masks on three types of visual tasks: reading, walking and searching, each performed at two light levels, with and without a mask. Objective data included reading time, walking time and number of collisions while walking, and search time. Subjective data included ease of seeing and visual comfort. Masks had little effect on reading and searching performance, and a limited impact on the number of collisions while walking. Seeing while walking was judged easier without a mask, and visual comfort while searching was rated lower with a mask.