This is a Scold's bridle. Women may call it a medieval torture device (because being forcefully stopped from bitching probably does sound like torture for them), others call it a witch hunting tool,
In reality, this is one of the many contraptions that helped keep the peace all the way up until the late 1800's. Almost exclusively used on women, it was a form of punishment for shrewish gals who just foundtoo much joy in causing a scene in public.
They would be court ordered to wear this mask for whatever period of time. And to put it lightly, it was simply designed to shut a bitch up so that everyone may continue their business in a polite and quite society,
While some may have you think that this is some type of torture, all it would simply do is depress the tongue of the wearer to make speech impossible. Of course, once witch hunts became a thing, some more brutal devices were created that would cause pain with metal spikes on the tongue depresser,
This just goes to show that even in history AWALT, However, back in the day, society was allowed to do something about it and could police everyday headaches with public humiliation.