The San Diego Padres play the Los Angeles Dodgers in a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Gregory Bull/AP

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Gregory Bull/AP

Professional sports are back but on the playing field, the situation is anything but normal. The most obvious difference is the glaring absence of fans in the stands, which has led to some creative experimentation with recorded crowd noise piped into venues.

Host Maddie Sofia talks to Catherine Sabiston, the Canada research chair in physical activity and mental health at the University of Toronto, about how the lack of real life fans is changing the psychology of sports games.

Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

This episode was produced by Yowei Shaw, fact-checked by Brit Hanson, and edited by Deborah George.