{"id":64034,"date":"2022-07-21T01:48:41","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T05:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=64034"},"modified":"2022-07-21T01:48:41","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T05:48:41","slug":"face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

While mask-wearing is no longer required in many locations, it remains in use as a way to limit the spread of COVID-19. One of the criticisms of masks has been that they make communication more difficult. A recent report by the\u00a0UK Department for Education<\/a>, for example, suggests that mask wearing during the pandemic caused communication difficulties in classrooms.<\/p>\n

However, our\u00a0new research<\/a>\u00a0shows that for people without hearing and language difficulties, the effects of face masks on the understanding of speech are in fact mild.<\/p>\n

Although face masks slow down our understanding of speech, they rarely lead to misunderstandings. Masks also do not affect our understanding in all situations. They generally only have an effect when the topic of the conversation is unpredictable.<\/p>\n

26 children (aged eight to 12) and 26 adults without hearing or language difficulties took part in our study. We showed them videos of a person speaking while wearing a cloth face mask and asked them to repeat back the last word of each sentence they had heard. This allowed us to measure how quickly and how accurately people understand face-masked speech.<\/p>\n

As well as testing our participants\u2019 understanding of masked versus non-masked speech, we also manipulated the video in order to test the audio and visual effects of the mask separately. This meant that, for instance, the video showed a non-masked speaker but played audio recorded with the mask on.<\/p>\n

We found that children process masked speech up to 8% less accurately and 8% more slowly than normal speech, while adults process masked speech up to 6.5% less accurately and 18% more slowly.<\/p>\n

In general, adults responded to speech faster than children in the study – about 23% faster (148 milliseconds) when listening to face mask speech and 29% faster (176 milliseconds) when listening to normal speech. Adults\u2019 highly efficient processing of normal speech could be one reason why the effect of face masks on their speed is more pronounced.<\/p>\n

The impact of face masks<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Face masks change our use of language in two ways.\u00a0They change what a speaker sounds like<\/a>\u00a0and may give the impression that their speech is muffled. Most masks also block the view of the speaker\u2019s lips.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, our research shows that the way masks change the sound when we speak affects children more than the visual obstruction of the speaker\u2019s lips. The reason for this could be that\u00a0children are not as good<\/a>\u00a0at combining visual information with sound as adults are when hearing and seeing a speaker. As a result, seeing the speaker\u2019s lip movements while hearing masked speech does not improve how accurately they understand what is being said.<\/p>\n

This is different from adults, who find masked speech more difficult to understand because of the unique combination of visual blocking and sound changes. We found that acoustically muffled masked speech does not affect adults\u2019 understanding when they can see the speaker\u2019s lip movements. Similarly, concealing the talker\u2019s mouth does not have an effect when the speech sound is clear. However, most masks conceal the mouth and change the speech sound at the same time.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019re talking about matters<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Interestingly, the topic of conversation matters. Face masks affect our understanding less when we can anticipate what our conversation partner is going to say.<\/p>\n

This is because knowing the conversation context helps us to understand language quickly and effortlessly. For example, in the sentence \u201cFor your birthday I baked this cake\u201d, the words \u201cbirthday\u201d and \u201cbaked\u201d are related in meaning to the last word \u201ccake\u201d and often occur together. Our brains can use this information to predict what a speaker is going to say.<\/p>\n

Our study shows that giving this type of contextual information reduces the difficulties in understanding masked speech. When given high contextual information, both children and adults process masked speech only 1% less accurately than normal speech. This explains why communicating with masks causes difficulties in some situations but not others.<\/p>\n

While there have been fears that masks would affect children\u2019s learning, in the classroom teachers use many techniques that increase contextual information. They design lessons in a way that builds upon students\u2019 existing knowledge and use images, keywords and written text. All of these techniques support children\u2019s understanding of what is being said and help them to compensate for face mask effects.<\/p>\n

Listeners also use other clues that reduce mask effects. For example, most masks do not cover the upper part of the face. This is good news because seeing the speaker\u2019s eyes and upper face helps us to understand\u00a0masked speech better<\/a>. As a result, our comprehension of language is remarkably robust.<\/p>\n

However, participants in our study did not have any\u00a0hearing or speech difficulties<\/a>, and only listened to an adult speaker\u00a0in quiet conditions<\/a>. We don\u2019t know how mask wearing has affected children\u2019s communication with their peers, or its impact on other aspects of their learning and\u00a0wellbeing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Author Bio: <\/strong>Julia Schwarz is a PhD Candidate in Linguistics at the University of Cambridge<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While mask-wearing is no longer required in many locations, it remains in use as a way to limit the spread of COVID-19. One of the criticisms of masks has been that they make communication more difficult. A recent report by the\u00a0UK Department for Education, for example, suggests that mask wearing during the pandemic caused communication […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[429951],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-64034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-mask-wearing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFace masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While mask-wearing is no longer required in many locations, it remains in use as a way to limit the spread of COVID-19. One of the criticisms of masks has been that they make communication more difficult. A recent report by the\u00a0UK Department for Education, for example, suggests that mask wearing during the pandemic caused communication […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-21T05:48:41+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/teacherwithmask.jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-21T05:48:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":842,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/teacherwithmask.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"mask-wearing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/\",\"name\":\"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/teacherwithmask.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-21T05:48:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/teacherwithmask.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/teacherwithmask.jpeg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":380},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"While mask-wearing is no longer required in many locations, it remains in use as a way to limit the spread of COVID-19. One of the criticisms of masks has been that they make communication more difficult. A recent report by the\u00a0UK Department for Education, for example, suggests that mask wearing during the pandemic caused communication […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2022-07-21T05:48:41+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/teacherwithmask.jpeg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research","datePublished":"2022-07-21T05:48:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/"},"wordCount":842,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/teacherwithmask.jpeg","keywords":["mask-wearing"],"articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/","name":"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/teacherwithmask.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-07-21T05:48:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/teacherwithmask.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/teacherwithmask.jpeg","width":680,"height":380},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/face-masks-affect-how-children-understand-speech-differently-from-adults-new-research\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Face masks affect how children understand speech differently from adults \u2013 new research"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64036,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64034\/revisions\/64036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64034"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=64034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}