Effect of Feedback on Reduction of Respirator Leakage Associated with Mask Donning

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to: 1) assess the quality of fitfor full face and half face respirators; 2) evaluate the effect offeedback on respirator leak rate; and 3) evaluate the donningeffect. Ten study volunteers consisting of five males and five femaleswere recruited for this study. They were subjected to daily leak ratemeasurements for full and half face respirators for a period of fiveconsecutive days. Half mask respirators have significantly lower leakrate than full face respirators (p-value 0.0001). Feedback providedduring the fit testing significantly improved the respirator fit andreduced leak rates by several hundredfold (p-value 0.0001). Multipledonnings performed each day had no significant effect on dailyleak rate measurements for both respirator types. The findingsindicate that the respirator leak rates are significantly lower in halfmask respirators, especially when subjects were given feedback abouttheir fit testing. The finding is contradictory to American NationalStandard Institute.s (ANSI) guidelines of higher Assigned ProtectionFactor (APF) for full mask respirator. Further studies are necessary toassess this finding and to amend respirator recommendations in thefuture.