ArticleCognitive research: principles and implications2021
Face mask type affects audiovisual speech intelligibility and subjective listening effort in young and older adults.
Article in Cognitive research: principles and implications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 82 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding discourse in face-to-face settings: The impact of multimodal cues and listening conditions.Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition · 2025Article
- Article
- Reassessing the Benefits of Audiovisual Integration to Speech Perception and Intelligibility.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR · 2025Article
- Older adults' recognition of medical terminology in hospital noise.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2024Article
- The impact of face masks on face-to-face neural tracking of speech: Auditory and visual obstacles.Heliyon · 2024Article
- The impact of face coverings on audio-visual contributions to communication with conversational speech.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2024Article
- Mask wearing during neuropsychological assessment negatively impacts performance on verbal tests in older patients.Psychological assessment · 2023Article
- Preregistration: Practical Considerations for Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR · 2023Article
- Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Predicts Fatigue From Listening, But Not Perceived Effort, in Young and Older Adults.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR · 2023Article
- Effects of face masks and acoustical environments on speech recognition by preschool children in an auralised classroom.Applied acoustics. Acoustique applique. Angewandte Akustik · 2023Article
- The effects of face mask on speech production and its implication for forensic speaker identification-A cross-linguistic study.PloS one · 2023Article
- Where on the face do we look during phonemic restoration: An eye-tracking study.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Hidden faces, altered perceptions: the impact of face masks on interpersonal perception.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Review
- Multisensory effects of mask wearing on speech intelligibility and the benefit of multilingualism.CoDAS · 2023Article
- Effects on communication due to face mask use: an integrative review.Revista brasileira de enfermagem · 2023Review
- The effects of temporal cues, point-light displays, and faces on speech identification and listening effort.PloS one · 2023Article
- Mask-Wearing Behaviors after Two Years of Wearing Masks Due to COVID-19 in Korea: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Cortical tracking of formant modulations derived from silently presented lip movements and its decline with age.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2022Article
- The perception of intonational and emotional speech prosody produced with and without a face mask: an exploratory individual differences study.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2022Article
- The contribution of respiratory and hearing protection use to psychological distress in the workplace: a scoping review.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Identifying speech requires that listeners make rapid use of fine-grained acoustic cues-a process that is facilitated by being able to see the talker's face. Face masks present a challenge to this process because they can both alter acoustic information and conceal the talker's mouth. Here, we investigated the degree to which different types of face masks and noise levels affect speech intelligibility and subjective listening effort for young (N = 180) and older (N = 180) adult listeners. We found that in quiet, mask type had little influence on speech intelligibility relative to speech produced without a mask for both young and older adults. However, with the addition of moderate (- 5 dB SNR) and high (- 9 dB SNR) levels of background noise, intelligibility dropped substantially for all types of face masks in both age groups. Across noise levels, transparent face masks and cloth face masks with filters impaired performance the most, and surgical face masks had the smallest influence on intelligibility. Participants also rated speech produced with a face mask as more effortful than unmasked speech, particularly in background noise. Although young and older adults were similarly affected by face masks and noise in terms of intelligibility and subjective listening effort, older adults showed poorer intelligibility overall and rated the speech as more effortful to process relative to young adults. This research will help individuals make more informed decisions about which types of masks to wear in various communicative settings.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.