{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,29]],"date-time":"2026-06-29T17:37:05Z","timestamp":1782754625184,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":70,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,13]],"date-time":"2022-05-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1652400000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["5R01 DC011038"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["5R01 DC011038"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["P20GM109023"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P20GM109023"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Teachers and students are wearing face masks in many classrooms to limit the spread of the coronavirus. Face masks disrupt speech understanding by concealing lip-reading cues and reducing transmission of high-frequency acoustic speech content. Transparent masks provide greater access to visual speech cues than opaque masks but tend to cause greater acoustic attenuation. This study examined the effects of four types of face masks on auditory-only and audiovisual speech recognition in 18 children with bilateral hearing loss, 16 children with normal hearing, and 38 adults with normal hearing tested in their homes, as well as 15 adults with normal hearing tested in the laboratory. Stimuli simulated the acoustic attenuation and visual obstruction caused by four different face masks: hospital, fabric, and two transparent masks. Participants tested in their homes completed auditory-only and audiovisual consonant recognition tests with speech-spectrum noise at 0 dB SNR. Adults tested in the lab completed the same tests at 0 and\/or \u221210 dB SNR. A subset of participants from each group completed a visual-only consonant recognition test with no mask. Consonant recognition accuracy and transmission of three phonetic features (place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing) were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Children with hearing loss identified consonants less accurately than children with normal hearing and adults with normal hearing tested at 0 dB SNR. However, all the groups were similarly impacted by face masks. Under auditory-only conditions, results were consistent with the pattern of high-frequency acoustic attenuation; hospital masks had the least impact on performance. Under audiovisual conditions, transparent masks had less impact on performance than opaque masks. High-frequency attenuation and visual obstruction had the greatest impact on place perception. The latter finding was consistent with the visual-only feature transmission data. These results suggest that the combination of noise and face masks negatively impacts speech understanding in children. The best mask for promoting speech understanding in noisy environments depend on whether visual cues will be accessible: hospital masks are best under auditory-only conditions, but well-fit transparent masks are best when listeners have a clear, consistent view of the talker\u2019s face.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.874345","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,13]],"date-time":"2022-05-13T13:52:45Z","timestamp":1652449965000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Face Masks Impact Auditory and Audiovisual Consonant Recognition in Children With and Without Hearing Loss"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Kaylah","family":"Lalonde","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emily","family":"Buss","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Margaret K.","family":"Miller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lori J.","family":"Leibold","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","author":"Atcherson","year":"2020","journal-title":"More Speech Degradations and Considerations in the Search for Transparent Face Coverings during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Audiology Today"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"58","DOI":"10.3766\/jaaa.15151","article-title":"The effect of conventional and transparent surgical masks on speech understanding in individuals with and without hearing loss.","volume":"28","author":"Atcherson","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Am. Acad. Audiol."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-662-13015-5_24","article-title":"Which components of the face do humans and machines best speechread?","author":"Beno\u00eet","year":"1996","journal-title":"Speechreading by Humans and Machines: Models, Systems and Applications"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"619","DOI":"10.1044\/jshr.1704.619","article-title":"Auditory and visual contributions to the perception of consonants.","volume":"17","author":"Binnie","year":"1974","journal-title":"J. Speech Hear. Res."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2878","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0002450","article-title":"Effect of masks on speech intelligibility in auralized classrooms.","volume":"148","author":"Bottalico","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1186\/s41235-021-00314-0","article-title":"Face mask type affects audiovisual speech intelligibility and subjective listening effort in young and older adults.","volume":"6","author":"Brown","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cogn. Res."},{"key":"B7","year":"","journal-title":"Scientific Brief: Community Use of Cloth Masks to Control the Spread of SARS-CoV-2."},{"key":"B8","year":"","journal-title":"Use Masks to Slow the Spread of COVID-19"},{"key":"B9","year":"2020","journal-title":"Masks in Schools"},{"key":"B10","year":"","journal-title":"COVID-19 Types of Masks and Respirators Key Messages?: Choosing a Mask or Respirator for Different Situations."},{"key":"B11","year":"","journal-title":"Your Guide to Masks."},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"104570","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cognition.2020.104570","article-title":"Intelligibility of face-masked speech depends on speaking style: comparing casual, clear, and emotional speech.","volume":"210","author":"Cohn","year":"2021","journal-title":"Cognition"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2044-8279.1977.tb03001.x","article-title":"Lip-reading by deaf and hearing children.","volume":"47","author":"Conrad","year":"1977","journal-title":"Br. J. Educ. Psychol."},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2371","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0002279","article-title":"Acoustic effects of medical, cloth, and transparent face masks on speech signals.","volume":"148","author":"Corey","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cognition.2005.09.002","article-title":"Audio-visual speech perception off the top of the head.","volume":"100","author":"Davis","year":"2006","journal-title":"Cognition"},{"key":"B16","author":"Fairbanks","year":"1969","journal-title":"Voice and Articulation Drillbook"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"A153","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0007960","article-title":"The effects of face masks on speech-in-speech recognition for children and adults.","volume":"1500","author":"Flaherty","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B18","first-page":"8","article-title":"Speech blocked by surgical masks becomes a more important issue in the era of COVID-19.","volume":"27","author":"Goldin","year":"2020","journal-title":"Hear. Rev."},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"869","DOI":"10.1044\/jshr.1104.869","article-title":"Visual discrimination of consonants.","volume":"11","author":"Greenberg","year":"1968","journal-title":"J. Speech Hear. Res."},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"466","DOI":"10.1044\/jshr.3502.466","article-title":"Speechreading performance under different conditions of video image, repetition, and speech rate.","volume":"35","author":"Ijsseldijk","year":"1992","journal-title":"J. Speech Hear. Res."},{"key":"B21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"295","DOI":"10.21848\/asr.200053","article-title":"Changes on speech transmission characteristics by types of mask.","volume":"16","author":"Jeong","year":"2020","journal-title":"Audiol. Speech Res."},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2270","DOI":"10.3758\/s13414-011-0152-4","article-title":"When half a face is as good as a whole: effects of simple substantial occlusion on visual and audiovisual speech perception.","volume":"73","author":"Jordan","year":"2011","journal-title":"Atten. Percept. Psychophys."},{"key":"B23","author":"Kuznetsova","year":"2017","journal-title":"\u2018lmerTest: Test for Random and Fixed Effects for Linear Mixed Effects Models (R package Version, 2.0-2.5)\u2019, Computer Software."},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"416","DOI":"10.1044\/1092-4388(2012\/12-0039)","article-title":"Speechreading development in deaf and hearing children: introducing the test of child speechreading.","volume":"56","author":"Kyle","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res."},{"key":"B25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"273","DOI":"10.1093\/deafed\/enj037","article-title":"Concurrent correlates and predictors of reading and spelling achievement in deaf and hearing school children.","volume":"11","author":"Kyle","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Deaf Stud. Deaf Educ."},{"key":"B26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1713","DOI":"10.1121\/1.4945590","article-title":"Audiovisual speech perception development at varying levels of perceptual processing.","volume":"139","author":"Lalonde","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"705","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000830","article-title":"Audiovisual enhancement of speech perception in noise by school-age children who are hard of hearing.","volume":"41","author":"Lalonde","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ear Hear."},{"key":"B28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci11010049","article-title":"Development of the mechanisms underlying audiovisual speech perception benefit.","volume":"11","author":"Lalonde","year":"2021","journal-title":"Brain Sci."},{"key":"B29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"575","DOI":"10.1097\/aud.0b013e3182857742","article-title":"Influence of hearing loss on children\u2019s identification of spondee words in speech-shaped noise or a two-talker masker.","volume":"34","author":"Leibold","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ear Hear."},{"key":"B30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000752","article-title":"Masking release for speech-in-speech recognition due to target\/masker sex mismatch in children with heairng loss.","volume":"41","author":"Leibold","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ear Hear."},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1144","DOI":"10.1044\/1092-4388(2012\/12-0011)","article-title":"Children\u2019s identification of consonants in a speech-shaped noise or a two-talker masker.","volume":"56","author":"Leibold","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res."},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"136","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000092","article-title":"Effect of minial\/mild hearing loss on children\u2019s speech understanding in a simulated classroom.","volume":"36","author":"Lewis","year":"2015","journal-title":"Ear Hear."},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"783","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000534","article-title":"Looking behavior and audiovisual speech understanding in children with normal hearing and children with mild bilateral or unilateral hearing loss.","volume":"39","author":"Lewis","year":"2018","journal-title":"Ear Hear."},{"key":"B34","first-page":"70","article-title":"Impact of face masks on audiovisual word recognition in young children with hearing loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.","volume":"6","author":"Lipps","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Early Hear. Detect. Interv."},{"key":"B35","first-page":"80","article-title":"Effects of different types of face coverings on speech acoustics and intelligibility.","volume":"2","author":"Llamas","year":"2008","journal-title":"York Pap. Linguist. Ser."},{"key":"B36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"505","DOI":"10.1348\/000709900158272","article-title":"Visual speechreading and cognitive performance in hearing-impaired and normal hearing children (11-14 years).","volume":"70","author":"Lyxell","year":"2000","journal-title":"Br. J. Educ. Psychol."},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3562","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0002873","article-title":"Effects of face masks on acoustic analysis and speech perception?: implications for peri-pandemic protocols.","volume":"148","author":"Magee","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1387","DOI":"10.1044\/jshr.3806.1387","article-title":"Visual word recognition in two facial motion conditions?: full face versus lips-plus-mandible.","volume":"38","author":"Marassa","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. Speech Hear. Res."},{"key":"B39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4070","DOI":"10.1121\/1.3658476","article-title":"Audibility-based predictions of speech recognition for children and adults with normal hearing.","volume":"130","author":"McCreery","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"686","DOI":"10.3766\/jaaa.19.9.4","article-title":"Speech understanding using surgical masks: A problem in health care?","volume":"19","author":"Mendel","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Am. Acad. Audiol."},{"key":"B41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0b013e3181ba746b","article-title":"Spectral integration and bandwidth effects on speech recognition in school-aged children and adults.","volume":"31","author":"Mlot","year":"2010","journal-title":"Ear Hear."},{"key":"B42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0963-7214.2004.01502010.x","article-title":"Visual Prosody and speech intelligibility: Head movement improves auditory speech perception.","volume":"15","author":"Munhall","year":"2004","journal-title":"Psychol. Sci"},{"key":"B43","first-page":"123","article-title":"The moving face during speech communication","author":"Munhall","year":"1998","journal-title":"Hearing by Eye II: Advances in the Psychology of Speechreading and Auditory\u2013Visual Speech"},{"key":"B44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3565","DOI":"10.1007\/s00405-020-06535-1","article-title":"Short report on the effects of SARS-CoV-2 face protective equipment on verbal communication.","volume":"278","author":"Muzzi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Eur. Arch. Oto rhino Laryngol."},{"key":"B45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1442","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000948","article-title":"COVID-19 lockdown affects hearing disability and handicap in diverse ways?: a rapid online survey study.","volume":"41","author":"Naylor","year":"2020","journal-title":"Ear Hear."},{"key":"B46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"381","DOI":"10.1044\/jshr.2803.381","article-title":"Visemes observed by hearing-impaired and normal-hearing adult viewers.","volume":"28","author":"Owens","year":"1985","journal-title":"J. Speech Hear. Res."},{"key":"B47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"960","DOI":"10.1080\/15459624.2016.1200723","article-title":"Speech intelligibility assessment of protective facemasks and air purifying respirators.","volume":"13","author":"Palmiero","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Occup. Environ. Hyg."},{"key":"B48","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3663","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0002853","article-title":"Impact of face masks on voice radiation.","volume":"148","author":"P\u00f6rschmann","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"564","DOI":"10.1044\/jslhr.4103.564","article-title":"Selective visual masking in speechreading.","volume":"41","author":"Preminger","year":"1998","journal-title":"J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res."},{"key":"B50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"516","DOI":"10.1044\/1092-4388(2008\/037)","article-title":"Head angle and elevation in classroom environments: implications for amplification.","volume":"51","author":"Ricketts","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res."},{"key":"B51","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2329","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1460-9568.2011.07685.x","article-title":"The development of multisensory speech perception continues into the late childhood years.","volume":"33","author":"Ross","year":"2011","journal-title":"Eur. J. Neurosci."},{"key":"B52","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"200","DOI":"10.1007\/s11263-010-0380-4","article-title":"Deformable model fitting by regularized landmark mean-shift.","volume":"91","author":"Saragih","year":"2011","journal-title":"Int. J. Comput. Vis."},{"key":"B53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"495","DOI":"10.1080\/14992027.2020.1851401","article-title":"Impacts of face coverings on communication: an indirect impact of COVID-19.","volume":"60","author":"Saunders","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Audiol."},{"key":"B54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"489","DOI":"10.1016\/0021-9924(80)90048-9","article-title":"Analysis of speecreading cues using an interleaved technique.","volume":"13","author":"Scheinberg","year":"1980","journal-title":"J. Commun. Disord."},{"key":"B55","first-page":"207","article-title":"Effect of face mask and noise on word recognition by children and adults","author":"Sfakianaki","year":"2021","journal-title":"Proceedings of 12th International Conference of Experimental Linguistics"},{"key":"B56","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4013","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0005191","article-title":"Face masks and speaking style affect audio-visual word recognition and memory of native and non-native speech.","volume":"149","author":"Smiljanic","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B57","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"902","DOI":"10.1044\/jslhr.4304.902","article-title":"The relation between stimulus context, speech audibility, and perception for normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children.","volume":"43","author":"Stelmachowicz","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Speech Hear. Res."},{"key":"B58","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2183","DOI":"10.1121\/1.1400757","article-title":"Effect of stimulus bandwidth on the perception of \u201cs\u201d in normal- and hearing-impaired children and adults.","volume":"110","author":"Stelmachowicz","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B59","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/1072.001.0001","author":"Stevens","year":"2000","journal-title":"Acoustic Phonetics."},{"key":"B60","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"314","DOI":"10.1159\/000259969","article-title":"Use of visual information for phonetic perception.","volume":"36","author":"Summerfield","year":"1979","journal-title":"Phonetica"},{"key":"B61","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"873","DOI":"10.1037\/0096-1523.30.5.873","article-title":"Contributions of oral and extraoral facial movement to visual and audiovisual speech perception.","volume":"30","author":"Thomas","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Exp. Psychol."},{"key":"B62","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0246842","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0246842","article-title":"Effects of face masks on speech recognition in multi-talker babble noise.","volume":"16","author":"Toscano","year":"2021","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"B63","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"142","DOI":"10.1121\/10.0002951","article-title":"The impact of face masks on the recall of spoken sentences.","volume":"149","author":"Truong","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B64","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"556","DOI":"10.1044\/2013_JSLHR-H-12-0273","article-title":"Lipreading in school-age children: the roles of age, hearing status, and cognitive ability.","volume":"57","author":"Tye-Murray","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res."},{"key":"B65","author":"Tyler","year":"1991","journal-title":"Audiovisual Feature Test for Young Children."},{"key":"B66","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"232","DOI":"10.1121\/1.3662059","article-title":"Experimental investigation of the effects of the acoustical conditions in a simulated classroom on speech recognition and learning in children.","volume":"131","author":"Valente","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B67","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"E2038","DOI":"10.1002\/lary.29447","article-title":"Influence of protective face coverings on the speech recognition of cochlear implant patients.","volume":"131","author":"Vos","year":"2021","journal-title":"Laryngoscope"},{"key":"B68","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3939","DOI":"10.1121\/1.2195121","article-title":"Informational masking of speech in children: auditory-visual integration.","volume":"119","author":"Wightman","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Acoust. Soc. Am."},{"key":"B69","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"060125","DOI":"10.1121\/1.4800719","article-title":"The effects of surgical masks on speech perception in noise research.","volume":"19","author":"Wittum","year":"2013","journal-title":"Proc. Mtgs. Acoust."},{"key":"B70","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"682677","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.682677","article-title":"Effects of wearing face masks while using different speaking styles in noise on speech intelligibility during the COVID-19 pandemic.","volume":"12","author":"Yi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.874345\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,13]],"date-time":"2022-05-13T13:53:03Z","timestamp":1652449983000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.874345\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,13]]},"references-count":70,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.874345"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.874345","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,13]]},"article-number":"874345"}}