This study investigates the impact of wearing a fabric face mask on speech comprehension, an underexplored topic that can inform theories of speech production. Speakers produced sentences in three speech styles (casual, clear, positive-emotional) while in both face-masked and non-face-masked conditions. Listeners were most accurate at word identification in multi-talker babble for sentences produced in clear speech, and less accurate for casual speech (with emotional speech accuracy numerically in between). In the clear speaking style, face-masked speech was actually more intelligible than non-face-masked speech, suggesting that speakers make clarity adjustments specifically for face masks. In contrast, in the emotional condition, face-masked speech was less intelligible than non-face-masked speech, and in the casual condition, no difference was observed, suggesting that ‘emotional’ and ‘casual’ speech are not styles produced with the explicit intent to be intelligible to listeners. These findings are discussed in terms of automatic and targeted speech adaptation accounts.

这项研究调查了佩戴织物口罩对语音理解的影响，这是一个尚未被探讨的话题，可以为语音产生理论提供参考。演讲者在蒙面和非蒙面条件下以三种言语风格（休闲，清晰，积极情绪）制作句子。听众在多说话者ba语中的单词识别方面最准确，对于清晰语音中产生的句子而言，准确度较低，而休闲语音则不那么准确（情感语音准确度介于数字之间）。以清晰的讲话风格，口罩讲话实际上更多比非口罩的语音更可理解，这表明扬声器专门针对口罩进行了清晰度调整。相比之下，在情绪状态下，口罩说话比在非状态下的口罩说话要容易理解，而在休闲状态下，没有观察到差异，这表明“情感”和“休闲”言语不是由语言产生的风格。明确的意图是让听众理解。这些发现是根据自动和针对性的语音适应帐户进行讨论的。