Ford Motor Company announced that it is ramping up new initiatives to help protect people from COVID-19, including mask development.
Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford designed a patent-pending, clear respirator in the hopes of benefitting those with hearing impairments. It expects the respirator to certify to N95 standards of virus protection.
The transparent, low-cost, reusable respirators allow people to communicate better by seeing the full range of human expression, while those with hearing impairments would be better able to read lips that are blocked the standard personal protective equipment (PPE) seen today.
Testing for the transparent respirators to prove effectiveness is underway and continuing through the winter, with Ford expecting availability sometime in the spring.
“One of the things that’s missing during the pandemic is the power of a smile,” Ford VP, enterprise product line management and leader of the company’s Pro…