Outstanding protection
The principle behind the Air-Hood is “Positive Pressure Protection”, widely used in industry to protect workers against chemical or infectious agents, nuclear and pharmaceutical dusts etc. Inside the hood, your head is enveloped in a zone of slightly increased pressure. Air always flows from a higher pressure to a lower, so nothing in the surrounding air can enter the hood.
The second major advantage is that the Air-Hood covers your whole head, including all mucous your membranes, behind one continuous barrier. There are no junctions to leak, such as between a standard mask and goggles. There is never a doubt about face fit, your head is always completely sealed in.
The poncho on the bottom of the hood can be worn over, or tucked into scrubs or a gown, keeping contamination away from your neck and covering the elastic that seals the cuff around your neck. When doffing, the poncho turns up around the hood; release the Velcro and the entire hood lifts from your head in one operation, greatly reducing the chances of transferring contamination from the outside onto your face such as can happen when doffing a traditional face mask.
No other device on the market gives you this level of integrity of protection.
Outstanding comfort
In the Air-Hood, nothing contacts your face so you will never get pressure sores. Nothing clamps to your head, so you won’t get the headaches that long term wearing of goggles or face masks lead to.
Your head has complete freedom of movement, so you can look left and right, up or down without impediment. You can get your eyes right up to a microscope, which you can’t do with goggles or a rigid face mask. And no matter how close you need to work on an aerosol-generating procedure (for example, intubating a patient), you can have total confidence that the aerosol will not reach your face, eyes or head.
Due to the constant through flow of fresh filtered air, there is no misting of the hood, no build up of heat or CO2 as you can get with closed masks. You will never feel hot and sweaty, even if you undertake extended hard, aerobic activity.
For those who wear spectacles, the Air-Hood is a game-changer for comfort. Apart from avoiding the misting that occurs under goggles, you can at any time lift or reposition your spectacles using your hands acting through the flexible hood, safe in the knowledge that nothing on your hands can contact your face.
Outstanding communication
Your face is fully visible, so you are immediately recognisable by patients and team members; communication through facial expression is unimpeded, as is lip-reading, a huge benefit for the hard of hearing. The patient’s experience is very much less alarming – as well as knowing who you are, we all know how reassuring a smile can be.
Sound attenuation through the Air-Hood is minimal, and the noise level inside is much lower than other air-fed hoods on the market, thanks to our unique silencer (part of our patent applied for). So you can talk to one another in a normal voice, very much easier than using traditional face masks.
Reduced stress = better safety, less fatigue, better mental health and higher productivity
Due to the protection, comfort and ease of communication, wearing the Air-Hood for long periods is very much less stressful than using traditional face mask and goggles. Reduced stress makes for fewer mistakes and less tiredness, allowing you to get more done and go home in a happier condition.