The present invention relates to a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) facemask with a facemask-resident physiological monitoring system including at least one integrated physiological sensing unit with at least one physiological sensor. The face-mask may also comprise an integrated bone conduction communication system. In an embodiment, the physiological sensor comprises a contact temperature sensor to monitor body temperature of the user. In another embodiment, the physiological sensing sensor comprises photoplethysmographic sensor to monitor heart rate and respiration of the user. The present inventions also relates to a method of performing physiological monitoring of a user of an SCBA facemask and communicating sound to the user of the SCBA facemask.