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

I'm slightly hard of hearing and I've now realised now much is used to rely on lip reading.

Me too. I kind of knew my hearing was pap after working in a dog kennels for years without any ppe (before all that!)
But since face masks came in (I work in a job that needs face masks) I have realised how much I rely on lip reading. It makes sense as to why I can't cope with telephone calls. It's bloody awful.

I agree. Especially if someone in a shop is wearing a mask and they are behind a screen and there's background noise. Can't understand a thing.

I used to work in a noisy factory with ear plugs in and I did get quite good at lip reading. I didn't realise I still did it but obviously I do.

Being hard of hearing and wearing bilateral hearing aids, I have this all the time not just in covid and mask wearing times. It's a whole thing right now during Covid and mask wearing. I find it utterly exhausting trying to decipher peoples speech at the best of times, now it's almost impossible this on top of the micro aggressions and overt aggressions from certain people, it's hard and upsetting and very frustrating.

I'm sorry you are finding it difficult, it really is hard work isn't it.

I just got hearing aids. Turns out it wasn't just the masks making me deaf.

@Rae36

I agree. Especially if someone in a shop is wearing a mask and they are behind a screen and there's background noise. Can't understand a thing.

I used to work in a noisy factory with ear plugs in and I did get quite good at lip reading. I didn't realise I still did it but obviously I do.

Very similar to me. Wonder if we need a new hearing test?

@Catmads

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.

Me too! My eyes are so dry and blurry. My surgical mask is practically in my eyes to stop my glasses steaming up and it's on all the time so I'm not surprised. If I wear my visor too, my sense are all over the place with the sound bouncing back. I go home every night dry, sore, blurry and with a headache.

@Catmads - it's kind of reassuring to know I'm not the only one. It's not even just at work. Every day I must be inadvertently ignoring / blanking people I know. There should be some sort of badge we can wear to explain that we're not being deliberately rude.

I find I lose my balance when wearing a mask, for example, going down steps is nerve racking.

@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.

Me too! Hats also stop me hearing. I wonder what it’s about??

Same here. And I work in hospitality, but it’s weirdly more about me wearing the mask that makes me not hear people 🤷🏻‍♀️😭 because usually people have their masks off by the time I’m speaking with them!

I feel like this if I've got a hood up too, I have to take it down to have a conversation with someone.

Oh me too. I hadn't realised how much I rely on facial expressions and lip reading and my hearing is absolutely fine as far as I'm aware.

It doesn't help that my glasses steam up when I'm wearing a mask so it's even harder to see faces properly.

Also the irony is you end up pulling your mask down and leaning in closer to hear the person better!

I thought it was just me. I can't hear what people are saying. I keep bumping into things with the mask on too.

I'm also having problems with facial recognition, especially at the school gate since I haven't seen people for months.

I'm not the only one though. Last week a father who I definitely didn't know said hi in a really friendly manner as if he'd known me for years.

@whatisthislifesofullofcare

I find I lose my balance when wearing a mask, for example, going down steps is nerve racking.

I have size 2 feet... Switching to a visor for sensory/ breathing difficulties has had other benefits!

I have a hearing loss at certain frequencies. Hhe last time I saw the concultant he said hearing aids wouldn't help. I can hear background noise better than the person talking to me if that makes sense.
If it's quiet then I can hear you, anything going on in the background and I struggle.

I first realised how much this affected me watching the F1 on TV. All the pundits used masks and I really couldn't follow it as well without seeing mouths.
DH has had to tell me what people have said a few times now as I've misheard where normally I think I'd have read lips to some extent.

Makes me feel a bit sad really.

Oh my word this is so true! I struggle at work but it’s worse in the shops. I took my teen DD food shopping and she got really cross with me as I couldn’t hear her properly and I kept getting her lost in my peripheral vision and stumbling into things. It’s just really exhausting. Sounds so silly to say it but it really affected my senses hugely.
I reckon I’d be so easy to quietly mug I’d have no clue they could just reach into my bag and be off with stuff.

You do get used to it though. My students all wear masks and whilst I did have to ask them to speak up initially, we manage to fill an hour discussion with our masks on. You have to change how you speak a bit. I'm surprised I can hear as much as I do. I also don't face them entirely either as I have to stay at the front and sometimes they face each other. I think I must have good hearing. I can imagine if you don't it's a nightmare, so we offer zoom seminars for those who don't like masks/struggle or are self-isolating.

I'm not getting used to it.
My hearing has always been ropey. At the moment my head feels like an insulated box with noise getting in but it's all dull.

I'm really struggling with hearing both DCs and I don't know if it's a stress/ processing response because of being with them yapping on and on about minecraft/ pokemon/ WW2 battle strategies continuously for 5.5 months off school and my head is talked out or whether my hearing is actually deteriorating.

I should get a hearing test, but it's yet another stressful environment that I just don't have the mental energy to deal with because of masks because I find wearing a face covering draining plus dealing with masked mumbling.

I try to keep masky environments to a minimum. Shop on quiet evenings. Life is still rather lonely and compromised and oh how I will celebrate the day that wretched face rags are no longer mandated. They are awful things for so many reasons.

Yes, I’m definitely struggling not being able to lip read. I didn’t realize how much I was doing it until I couldn’t anymore.

I’ve had plenty of experience of working and socialising with women in niqab, or burka, and rarely had a problem with understanding them, or with recognising them. But masks definitely affect my understanding. I wonder whether it’s partly whether or not the wearer is used to it, and the fact that most social interactions are awkward and slightly uncomfortable at the moment.

The comments about masks and sunglasses making it hard to hear are amazing. When we were studying musical theatre years ago, my friend had to take her big earrings out to sing.

I’m finding this too. I have partial deafness in one ear anyway so it makes it even harder 😭 I was working with this woman last week and she would give these really long monologues and I’d give up half way through because I had no idea what she was on about. Anyway, a couple of time she then turned to me all expectantly like wow, what do you think?’ And I’m like, ‘Er yeh’ Hoping that’s the right answer, even though most of it was so muffled that I missed most of it.