Data for: Intelligibility of face-masked speech depends on speaking style: Comparing casual, smiled, and clear speech

This study was designed to quantify the impact of face mask-wearing on intelligibility across speech styles (casual, clear, smiled). We focused on one type of face mask, a fabric mask, which is commonly used in the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce hospital personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages (MacIntyre & Hasanain, 2020). The effects of fabric face masks on intelligibility has not, to our knowledge, been previously explored (but see Fecher & Watt (2011) for study of other types of fabric face coverings). Speakers produced 192 low predictability SPIN sentences (Kalikow et al., 1977) while in both face-masked and unmasked conditions in three speech styles (casual, clear, smiled) in 4-talker babble. Listeners consisted of 63 native English speakers (mean age: 20±1.4 years, range 18-25; 51 female, 1 non-binary, 1 transgender, 10 male), with no reported hearing impairments, from the UC Davis Psychology Subject Pool, who received course credit for participation. The experiment was conducted online using Qualtrics. The experiment began with a sound calibration procedure: participants heard one sentence produced by each speaker (not used in experimental trials) in silence at 60 decibels and were asked to identify the sentence from three multiple choice options, each of which presented a phonologically close target word (e.g., “I’m talking about the bench.”, “I’m talking about the wrench”, etc.). This ensured that participants heard the sound as played on their computers; after, they were instructed to not adjust their sound levels again during the experiment. Next, participants completed the speech-in-noise word identification task. On a given trial, participants heard a stimulus sentence (presented once only) and then were asked to type the final word. Assignment of a sentence to a Speaker, Masking Condition, and Speaking Style was pseudo-randomized across 4 lists and participants were randomly assigned to one of these lists. In total, each listener heard each of the 156 sentences once.本研究旨在量化佩戴口罩对不同言语风格（随意、清晰、带微笑）下语音可懂度的影响。我们聚焦于一种在2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行期间常用于缓解医院个人防护装备（Personal Protective Equipment, PPE）短缺的织物口罩（MacIntyre & Hasanain, 2020）。据我们所知，此前尚未有针对织物口罩对语音可懂度影响的相关研究，不过可参考Fecher与Watt (2011)针对其他类型织物面部遮盖物的研究。 受试说话者在四人谈话噪声（4-talker babble）环境下，分别处于佩戴口罩与未佩戴口罩两种实验条件，且采用三种言语风格（随意、清晰、带微笑），共录制192句低可预测性SPIN语句（SPIN sentences，Kalikow et al., 1977）。 听力受试共63名以英语为母语者（平均年龄20±1.4岁，年龄范围18-25岁；其中女性51人、非二元性别1人、跨性别1人、男性10人），均无听力障碍报告，招募自加州大学戴维斯分校心理学受试者库，参与实验可获得课程学分。 本实验通过Qualtrics平台在线开展。实验伊始为声音校准环节：受试者安静聆听每位说话者录制的1句句子（未用于正式实验试次），音量设置为60分贝，并需从三个多项选择选项中识别出该句子，每个选项均包含语音相近的目标词（例如："我正在谈论长凳。"、"我正在谈论扳手"等）。该环节旨在确认受试者通过其电脑播放的声音符合实验要求，随后受试者被告知实验过程中不得再次调整音量。接下来，受试者完成噪声环境下言语单词识别任务。在每个试次中，受试者仅聆听1次刺激句子，随后需输入句尾单词。句子与说话者、掩蔽条件、言语风格的分配通过4个列表进行伪随机化处理，受试者被随机分配至其中一个列表。最终每位受试者共聆听156句句子各1次。