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.

中文翻译：

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婴儿通过不透明的面罩识别单词，但不能通过透明的面罩识别

COVID-19 改变了儿童社会环境的许多方面。现在，许多孩子都戴着面具与他们交谈。几乎没有经验证据证明掩蔽语言输入对语言处理的影响。此外，关于透明面罩（即透明面罩）与不透明面罩对儿童语言理解的影响知之甚少。在目前的研究中，对 2 岁婴儿在三种情况下识别熟悉的口语单词的能力进行了测试：不带面具的单词、通过透明面具呈现的单词和通过不透明面具呈现的单词。婴儿能够识别不带面具和通过不透明面具听到单词时呈现的熟悉单词，但在通过透明面具听到单词时则不能。