Infants recognize words spoken through opaque masks but not through clear masks

Abstract

COVID‐19 has modified numerous aspects of children's social environments. Many children are now spoken to through a mask. There is little empirical evidence attesting to the effects of masked language input on language processing. In addition, not much is known about the effects of clear masks (i.e., transparent face shields) versus opaque masks on language comprehension in children. In the current study, 2‐year‐old infants were tested on their ability to recognize familiar spoken words in three conditions: words presented with no mask, words presented through a clear mask, and words presented through an opaque mask. Infants were able to recognize familiar words presented without a mask and when hearing words through opaque masks, but not when hearing words through clear masks. Findings suggest that the ability of infants to recover spoken language input through masks varies depending on the surface properties of the mask.

Association of Child Masking With COVID-19–Related Closures in US Childcare Programs

“… 22 , 24 Two-year-old children recognize spoken words better through an opaque mask compared with a clear face shield, suggesting verbal communication to infants is not harmed by face masks. 25 We are unaware of published research on the long-term effects, if any, on intermittent masking. For medical care, most children 4 to 10 years of age did not prefer unmasked health care professionals to masked health care professionals and did not fear health care professionals with masks.…”

Surgical Masks Impair People's Ability To Accurately Classify Emotional Expressions, Except For Anger

“…It is known that surgical facemasks (used intensively and worldwide in recent times, due to the COVID pandemics) might negatively affect social processing. Impairment might concern the recognition of face identity [1,2 ], emotion reading [3,4,5,6,7,8 ], trustworthiness judgement [9], face likability and closeness impression [6], as well as speech comprehension [10]. Relatedly, it was shown that face blurring impairs the understanding of emotional signals including body language [11].…”

Beeinflussung der psychosozialen Entwicklung von Kindern und Jugendlichen durch das Tragen von Gesichtsmasken im öffentlichen Raum zur Prävention von Infektionskrankheiten: Ein systematischer Review

“…Es wurden 13 Publikationen [ 24 – 36 ], davon eine Längsschnittstudie [ 34 ], 2 Querschnittsstudien [ 29 , 35 ], 2 Mixed-Methods-Studien [ 25 , 27 ], eine unkontrollierte Interventionsstudie [ 24 ], 5 Experimentalstudien [ 26 , 30 – 32 , 36 ] und 2 Übersichtsarbeiten [ 28 , 33 ], eingeschlossen. Von den Studien, die im Feld durchgeführt wurden, behandelten 3 COVID-19 [ 29 , 34 , 35 ], 2 das schwere akute respiratorische Syndrom (SARS; [ 25 , 27 ]) und eine Influenza [ 24 ].…”

“…In einer Experimentalstudie überprüften Singh et al., ob die Fähigkeit zum Erkennen von Wörtern bei 24 Jungen und Mädchen im Alter von 2 Jahren durch das Tragen von Masken beeinträchtigt wurde [ 30 ]. Dazu wurde den Kindern über einen Computerbildschirm das Gesicht einer Frau präsentiert, das entweder a) unbedeckt war bzw.…”

“…Dass die Sicht auf das Gesicht dabei nicht unbedingt besser sein muss, zeigen Ergebnisse der Experimentalstudie von Singh et al. [ 30 ], in der die Fähigkeit zur Spracherkennung durch das Masketragen untersucht wurde. Hier waren transparente Schutzvorrichtungen, sogenannte Visoren, mit einer verminderten Fähigkeit zur Worterkennung bei Kleinkindern verbunden.…”