BGU designs face masks to assist hearing impaired read lips, communicate

The mask was manufactured using a 3D printer at Zinman Darca High School, using the Tannenbaum-Baruchi research insights as a blueprint to assemble the new mask.

By ZACHARY KEYSER
A man wears a face mask for fear of the coronavirus as he takes the train to Haifa, on March 17, 2020 (photo credit: YOSSI ALONI/FLASH90)
A man wears a face mask for fear of the coronavirus as he takes the train to Haifa, on March 17, 2020
(photo credit: YOSSI ALONI/FLASH90)
Researchers from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have designed a new face mask to assist those with hearing disabilities who often read lips as their primary form of communication, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to grip the Israeli nation.
Considering that Israelis have been prompted to wear masks in all public places as of April 24 – or risk of being fined – Ben-Gurion University of the Negev School of Public Health doctoral student Carolina Tannenbaum-Baruchi teamed up with Maayan Levin, mentor of the high school robotics team “Roboactive #2096” from Zinman Darca High School in Dimona, to resolve the newfound issue.

The project holds a special place close to home for Tannenbaum-Baruchi, since both of her parents are deaf. She has dedicated her doctoral research to bettering the lives of the deaf and the hearing impaired.
The mask was manufactured using a 3D printer at Zinman Darca High School, using Tannenbaum-Baruchi’s research as a blueprint to assemble the new mask.
“Over the last three weeks, we have planned, developed and created the mask from home, with the assistance of 3-D printers. The result: the first mask of its kind,” Levin explained in a university statement. “It is reusable, washable and sterilizable, and is easy to breathe in. It is transparent in front to enable lip reading and is designed not to fog up from people’s breath. What's more, it is comfortable and affordable.”
“Hours of conversations, messages, video clips and attempts have resulted in this transparent mask,” Tannenbaum-Baruchi concluded joyously.
The team is currently seeking investors to enter the mask into mass production, as they continue to refine the mask blueprint.
The research was performed under the auspices of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Coronavirus Task Force, founded by university president Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, and created primarily to "harness the ingenuity of the faculty and the resources of the university to tackle the myriad challenges the current pandemic poses."


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