Effects of Face Masks on Word Learning in Preschool-Age Children

口罩对学龄前儿童单词学习的影响

• 批准号: 10508012
• 负责人: TINA M GRIECO-CALUB
• 金额: $ 23万
• 依托单位: RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-09 至 2025-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10508012
• 关键词: 6 year old; Academic achievement; Acoustics; Administrative Supplement; Affect; Age; Attention; Auditory; COVID-19; Cheese; Child; Child Behavior; Child Development; Child Language; Chronic; Cueing for speech; Cues; Development; Educational process of instructing; Environment; Exposure to; Foundations; Frequencies; Future; Goals; Growth; Impairment; Individual; Individual Differences; Knowledge; Language; Language Development; Lead; Learning; Literature; Masks; Medical; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Noise; Nursery Schools; Occupational; Parents; Pathologist; Perception; Performance; Preschool Child; Process; Protocols documentation; Research; Research Priority; Risk; Short-Term Memory; Signal Transduction; Source; Speech; Speech Acoustics; Speech Perception; Speech Sound; Taxes; Testing; Time; Visual; Vocabulary; Work; attentional control; base; cognitive process; early childhood; face mask; improved; learning outcome; parent grant; phonology; programs; public health relevance; reading ability; school environment; skills; speech accuracy; success; visual speech; word learning

Project Summary Children’s ability to understand and learn from spoken language declines when speech quality is low. This can be particularly problematic during the preschool years, a time when children’s sole source of vocabulary is through spoken language and when children build foundational vocabulary knowledge that is essential for future reading and academic achievement. The use of face masks in educational settings, including preschools, to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 introduces a barrier to the high-fidelity speech input that children need. Specifically, face masks acoustically filter speech by limiting access to high frequency speech sounds necessary for accurate speech perception (e.g., the /ch/ and /s/ in the word “cheese”). Furthermore, some face masks limit access to visual speech cues. Although preschool children are frequently tasked with resolving degraded speech due to background noise in their naturalistic environments, their speech perception is less resilient than that of older children to these manipulations. A robust literature demonstrates that degraded speech both disrupts the recognition of spoken words as well as taxes cognitive processes, such as attention and working memory, that are fundamental to word learning. Thus, chronic exposure to talkers who use face masks may create a barrier to vocabulary development in preschool-age children, which may lead to negative downstream consequences on their future language development. The purpose of the present study is to test the effect of face masks on word learning in preschool-age children. We hypothesize that reduced access to the acoustic and visual components of speech due to mask use by the target talker will result in poorer word learning. To test this hypothesis, children between 4 and 6 years of age will be taught words across conditions that vary in both the acoustic fidelity of the speech signal (Aim 1.1) and access to visual speech cues based on mask use by a target talker (Aim 1.2). Although the availability of clear masks allows access to visual speech cues, they can cause greater acoustic filtering. To test the potential trade-off between acoustic fidelity and availability of visual speech cues, we will also test the effect of mask type (Aim 1.3): we will compare children’s word learning between a disposable medical mask that has moderate acoustic filtering but limits access to visual speech cues and a ClearMask® that has significant acoustic filtering but provides access to visual speech cues. Finally, we will determine the extent to which individual factors, such as vocabulary size and verbal working memory skills, influence children’s performance across these conditions (Aim 2). Through accomplishing these aims, we will determine how face masks affect word learning in preschool-age children and will identify which children are most at risk for poor vocabulary development when face masks are used. More broadly, the results will show how disrupted access to a high-fidelity speech signal alters children’s ability to form new phonological representations. This work aligns with the research priorities of the Child Development and Behavior Branch of the NICHD because vocabulary development is critical to long-term language and academic development.

项目概要 当言语质量低下时，儿童理解和学习口语的能力就会下降。这个可以 在学龄前阶段尤其成问题，因为此时儿童唯一的词汇来源是 通过口语以及当孩子们建立对未来至关重要的基础词汇知识时 阅读和学术成就。在教育机构（包括幼儿园）中使用口罩 减缓 COVID-19 的传播给儿童所需的高保真语音输入带来了障碍。 具体来说，面罩通过限制对高频语音的访问来对语音进行声学过滤 准确的语音感知（例如，“奶酪”一词中的 /ch/ 和 /s/）。此外，有些口罩还限制 获得视觉语音提示。尽管学龄前儿童经常面临解决言语退化问题的任务 由于自然环境中的背景噪音，他们的言语感知能力不如其他人 年龄较大的孩子对这些操作的反应。大量文献表明，退化的言语会扰乱 识别口语以及对认知过程进行征税，例如注意力和工作记忆， 是单词学习的基础。因此，长期接触戴口罩的谈话者可能会造成障碍 影响学龄前儿童的词汇发展，这可能会导致负面的下游后果 关于他们未来的语言发展。本研究的目的是测试口罩对人的影响 学龄前儿童的单词学习。我们假设减少了对听觉和视觉的接触 由于目标说话者使用面具而导致的语音成分会导致单词学习效果较差。为了测试这个 假设，4 至 6 岁的儿童将在不同的条件下学习单词 语音信号的声学保真度（目标 1.1）以及基于目标使用的掩模对视觉语音提示的访问 健谈者（目标 1.2）。尽管透明面罩的可用性允许获得视觉语音提示，但它们可能会导致 更好的声学过滤。测试声音保真度和视觉语音可用性之间的潜在权衡 线索，我们还将测试面具类型的效果（目标 1.3）：我们将比较不同面具类型的儿童的单词学习情况 一次性医用口罩具有适度的声学过滤功能，但限制了视觉语音提示和 ClearMask® 具有显着的声学过滤功能，但提供视觉语音提示。最后，我们将 确定个人因素（例如词汇量和言语工作记忆技能）的程度 影响儿童在这些条件下的表现（目标 2）。通过实现这些目标，我们将 确定口罩如何影响学龄前儿童的单词学习，并确定哪些孩子是 使用口罩时最有可能出现词汇发展不良的风险。更广泛地说，结果将显示 对高保真语音信号的访问中断如何改变儿童形成新语音的能力 交涉。这项工作符合儿童发展和行为部门的研究重点 NICHD 因为词汇发展对于长期语言和学术发展至关重要。