I’m amazed at how deaf face masks have made me

[Wishingforanotherlife]

And I don’t mean that the person isn’t speaking loudly enough. I realise that when I’m listening to someone I’m reading their facial expressions and must also be lip reading to some degree too. I’m sure I read somewhere that 7% of f2f communication is the actual spoken words.

Reminds me of when watching the Swedish Girls with Dragon Tattoo films. I could watch them with sub titles but not if they’d been dubbed into English - it messed with my head.

Just random thoughts that flit in and out of my brain in this weird Covid existence

Yes I find dubbing impossible to follow. Subs much better!

I get it, I find it difficult too. I can't lipread at all - even when someone really exaggerates it - so I don't think I'm missing the lip reading to a great extent but I know I rely heavily on facial expressions and movements, particularly for interpreting tone.

You get used to it. Unless you have ear wax (the muted hearing caused by the wax can creep up on you).

A friend of mine used to work in a public facing role in a pharmacy. It's in an area with a large Muslim community. She managed to speak with women who wore niqabs without much difficulty.

Ah, I thought you meant your wearing a mask made it hard to hear. Because that's me lol. I find it hard to hear when things are on my face. Sunglasses are the same, i always have to take them off to listen to people, like my senses are all mixed up and my face gets confused.

And I can only watch films with subtitles or i haven't got a clue what people are saying!

Yes, I always find it easier to understand someone if I'm looking at them; I think we all lipread to an extent without realising it.

Between masks and screens I rely on staff following a fairly simple script of "would you like a reciept?" type interactions. I'd seriously struggle to go off piste where I can't use logic to fill the gaps. My auditory processing is not great at the best of times.

I hate dubbing/ lip synching where it's off. Or people whose faces move in strange disconnectedways like John Redwood or Rylan. Botox is not my friend.

I don't cope well making direct face contact with mask wearers because 2/3s of the expression is gone and it's too much concentration to work through the muffled mumbling and try to get a snippet of information from the eyes while being distracted by the different ways that masks behave. So I look down and don't try to look at faces anymore and avoid masky places.
I can't even look at DH in his.

I miss natural human interractions.
Masks make the world even more isolated.

@IsAWookieABear

Ah, I thought you meant your wearing a mask made it hard to hear. Because that's me lol. I find it hard to hear when things are on my face. Sunglasses are the same, i always have to take them off to listen to people, like my senses are all mixed up and my face gets confused.

I find it harder to think in my visor because my voice bounces back at me and it's overloading and I'm struggling to hear the person I'm dealing with. Like a mixing desk where the bass and trebble have been messed around with by a toddler.

Never before have I had so many mixed up orders that went wrong because of the hinderences in communication at both ends.

@IsAWookieABear

Ah, I thought you meant your wearing a mask made it hard to hear. Because that's me lol. I find it hard to hear when things are on my face. Sunglasses are the same, i always have to take them off to listen to people, like my senses are all mixed up and my face gets confused.

This is me too!!!

I have to wear a mask all day for work and I am really struggling!
My hearing seems to have declined rapidly, my eyes seem to be permanently blurry and my short term memory is also shot.

@Catmads exactly the same experience for me!

My son is hearing impaired, he has absolutely no chance of understanding people in masks due to a combination of not seeing their face and the fact that masks muffle the sound. Uses it as a convenient excuse to be a bugger and shove crisps in the trolley.

@Catmads snap.
I have got used to it in some ways. First few days I got home and completely flaked out as was so exhausted and throat so dry.

But in noisy environment with everyone wearing masks it’s so hard to hear. We’re all repeating ourselves over and over.

I don’t think they’re ideal for situations where you are talking for much of the day.

I actually booked a hearing test as I was so concerned at how much I'm struggling to hear at the moment. My hearing wasn't 100% but still well within the normal range. The guy doing the test said that he's had loads of people booking tests for the same reason. He also pointed out that while single use medical masks are designed to reduce muffling, the material reusable masks aren't

@AwfulSomething It seems really odd that it can have such effect on us.

I am deaf and I find face masks awful as I cannot hear anyone

Most people are happy to pull their mask down to speak to me, but some don’t. This is awkward as I work in a supermarket and they then get narky because I can’t hear them.

You're thinking of Mehrabian's model of communication, 7% words spoken. I definitely lip read to understand better and find it's so much harder at the moment.

As a hearing person I expected masks ti have zero affect on me.

How wrong i was.

I struggle at work alot and I know its not just be because my customers don't seem to understand what I'm saying either.

Really feel for the hard of hearing ajd the deaf for whom this kid make life almost impossible .

Funny really, we consider ourselves far superior to animals but you remove the ability to read lips and body language in accordance to those lips and gestures and we reakky are up shit creek...

Yes I really struggle with this too. Too many people in masks also ignites my flight or fight response I just want to remove myself from the environment ASAP, finding it really unpleasant and I’m avoiding public places now.

I find this too. I agree with @IsAWookieABear, my senses get confused too. I can't wear sunglasses when I'm driving. My kids laugh at me because I have to hold an avocado next to my ear when i squeeze it to see if it's ripe. ( Apparently this is not normal)

I'm mostly able to hear/understand people, but I have no idea who anyone is!

I always thought I was excellent at recognising faces. It turns out that I was excellent at recognising the lower half of people's faces. If they have a face covering on, I can barely recognise anyone.

I work as support staff in a secondary school. There are several dozen pupils with whom I have built up a good working relationship over the past few years. They wear masks in the part of the school where my room is, and I'm having to ask them all their names, even the ones I've known for years. It must make them think I've completely forgotten who they are. 😳

I'm exactly the same

@Whatatoodoodle Yeah, the first week was the worst for me with an almost constant headache. I'm not drinking enough water during the day now either.

@Faircastle I'm also having trouble with recognising regular customers whose names I would normally know the minute they walked through the door.

The first and pretty much only thing I notice about people now is if they are wearing a face covering and if so, what type!

I’ve started using captions on tv a bit more - well when they
Come on by kid take I don’t turn them off and find myself reading them from time to time rather than looking at the unmasked face ! I think my mind has switched away from looking at lips when someone is speaking a bit. ?!