Masks everywhere...what about those who have a hearing impairment

[Greysparkles]

Just that really.
I have a hearing loss in 1 ear, and have to wear a mask at work. I never realised how much I rely on lip reading!!

It's difficult and mine is only a mild impairment. I really feel for those who will truly struggle if this comes into force in more environments

[daisychicken]

[quote Editress37]Masks are being made for deaf and hard of hearing people. They have clear plastic across the mouth/lips. They do look weird, but can be helpful
www.theclearmask.com/product
www.designboom.com/design/student-creates-transparent-masks-deaf-hard-of-hearing-04-08-2020/[/quote]
Masks with clear mouth areas are being made and can be made yourself but.. everyone needs to wear them. I can wear one (and will be doing so) to help others who lipread but I need you to wear one for me.

[Editress37]

Masks are being made for deaf and hard of hearing people. They have clear plastic across the mouth/lips. They do look weird, but can be helpful
www.theclearmask.com/product
www.designboom.com/design/student-creates-transparent-masks-deaf-hard-of-hearing-04-08-2020/

[idontlookoldenough]

I work in retail and at due back to work next Monday, I’m pretty much completely deaf in one ear and I hadn’t even considered how I’ll cope when I’m back at work, I can’t hear a thing if someone is talking on my bad side and have to concentrate hard once I realise someone is speaking and watch their lips.

I have a hearing aid but I just can’t get on with it, I should probably try and get it adjusted again but I think I’ve got that used to not hearing over the years that I won’t ever be able to cope with it.

[jackparlabane]

Oddly I'm finding the masks OK, because it's highlighting how many people now have problems understanding with them, not just me - I live in a very multicultural area so many people can understand English reasonably in normal circs, but find understanding a non-native language harder with background noise, masks, etc.

Apart from a supermarket trolley guy taking forever to switch to simple nod/shake/point in answer to my questions, I haven't had a problem yet in person. But then I don't try to understand random people - I get through public transport with just the signs, etc. My colleagues are on video so don't have masks then - but I can't understand conversation of more than a couple people, which is being a problem. Remote speech-to-text reporters can't manage much better than I can, with all the technical jargon and unpredictable topics, so I have to manage with autocaptions, hearing aids and meeting notes (and calling up people later).

I don't use BSL except a little with a couple friends, despite a AtW advisor recommending it - her own interpreter said there was no way my work could be interpreted in real time.

As for telling when people are reacting badly - look at people. The huffing, eyerolling - same as when someone is being less-than-helpful because a customer has any disability or is of a race the service provider doesn't respect, etc.

[JingsMahBucket]

Oh! And eventually he got the inner ear surgery about 3 years ago now and underwent speech therapy to modify his speech impediment (is that the current and correct term used now?).

[JingsMahBucket]

@daisychicken and @bluebluezoo yes regarding accents and languages. I have a friend / former coworker who’s Italian and was born deaf but not mute, and refused to learn Italian sign language as a child because he didn’t want to be cut off from 95% of the population. He also had a hearing aid. I used to visit their Italian office and we worked closely together, hang out during and in the evenings.

He knows 5 languages including English and can read lips in all 5 languages. I would practice my Italian with all my coworkers but I’d also switch between that and English. He told me that I’d have tell him when I was switching so he could essentially switch his mental language filter and read my lips properly. :) We spent many times at dinners writing down in English or Italian what we were trying to say. He’s a fun one and taught me a lot about pacing my speech for others to catch up with me, whether non-English speakers or hearing impaired people in general.

[Haenow]

I feel for you and those who rely on lip reading.
I don’t know if I can tolerate a mask due to my chronic lung disease (and I am exempt) but if I do wear a mask, I’ll make sure to get one that aids hearing impaired people.
Thanks for this thread. It’s very important to have these discussions, to bring it to the attention of the public so we can all do something to minimise any difficulty.

[daisychicken]

@bluebluezoo

I should say a lot of things affect lipreading - accents

I found it weird when I realised I lip read accents . I can watch things on mute and the voice in my head will be accented..

I can lipread accents too on tv but it's much harder in real life - more noise, stress I guess!

[bluebluezoo]

I should say a lot of things affect lipreading - accents

I found it weird when I realised I lip read accents . I can watch things on mute and the voice in my head will be accented..

[Freetodowhatiwant]

I am really struggling. Thankfully my only interaction conversation so far has been with people in shops but I’ve just made a wild guess at what they’re saying. I would really struggle if we had to wear them in a workplace.

[bluebluezoo]

With masks, I won't understand anything and will often not know if someone is speaking to me. I have already faced difficulties with shop staff wearing masks and reacting badly when I explained I couldn't understand them and that I was deaf

This. I have an auditory processing disorder, while my hearing is technically fine my brain can’t interpret the signals properly.

I only realised how much I lip read when i got glasses, and realised I couldn’t “hear” without my glasses

I get a lot of passive aggressive comments from people who think I’m rude because i don’t respond to their greeting when in fact i simply haven’t heard it.

Masks are a nightmare for me. Especially in a noisy or busy environment which really affects my ability to hear...

[daisychicken]

I should say a lot of things affect lipreading - accents, lisps, facial hair, chewing gum/food, not being face on, exaggerating lip pattern when speaking, shouting to name a few. But the difficulty with a mask, is it removes any possible chance to see clues to help interpret what is said plus any sound the Deaf person can hear is muffled.

[daisychicken]

Yes, only 30-40% of words are understood by lipreading and this goes up to about 60% if you are lipreading someone whose speech pattern you know well. But it really isn't like "reading a book" but more like a puzzle with pieces missing!

[EmbarrassingAdmissions]

wrt Daisychicken 's earlier remark - this is a decent explanation about why "lip-reading" is a misnomer and the name makes it seem much more straightforward than it is:

aeon.co/videos/why-lip-reading-is-like-putting-together-a-puzzle-without-all-the-pieces

NB: the people in this are face-on to the camera, in good lighting, have clear enunciation etc. It's very different to many real-world settings.

[MitziK]

If they are facing you, there's a drop to the shoulders, the area under the outer corner of the eyes hardens (as opposed to crinkling up when smiling), the jaw hardens and the eyebrows lower and they generally inhale more deeply. If they're slightly to the side, they turn more away from you or dip their chin down. Their lips either hardly move or they're suddenly far more exaggerated. Often the voice deepens and it'll be much faster or too slow because more people find deeper voices harder to understand - speaking too slowly is like expecting you to read War and Peace by being posted a single letter every second for the next million years, by the way


As I've still got reasonable hearing on one side whilst the other is mostly screwed for siblance thanks to the hiss, I can detect trouble brewing for others - I've pulled up bus drivers before now because they're being dicks to schoolchildren who are wearing hearing aids - well, when I've seen their lips through the Perspex screen from a distance, at any rate.

[daisychicken]

[quote JingsMahBucket]@daisychicken
With masks, I won't understand anything and will often not know if someone is speaking to me. I have already faced difficulties with shop staff wearing masks and reacting badly when I explained I couldn't understand them and that I was deaf.

Do you mind me asking what this looks like, people reacting badly? I want to know so I can help step in if a fellow customer needs assistance. I’ve been slightly in own world lately standing in grocery store lines and I’d like to be able to spot cues. Thank you.[/quote]
I would say if you are hearing, you will hear the comments. For me, its the rolling of eyes, the turning away and refusing to interact, the laughter, the angry/irritated stares. Sometimes a combination of all. Its hard to describe when someone is like this with a mask on as yes the mask hides a lot, but it is obvious. Especially when the other person is standing there apologising, explaining and asking if they could write it down or speak into their phone etc.

[daisychicken]

@MitziK

Speak up about your hearing loss - people will be accommodating

Sometimes, yes, they will be.

But there are equal numbers of people who will turn away, put their hands to their mouth, walk ahead of you, mumble, do a great imitation of a ventriloquist, suddenly talk at you like they would to a foreigner (ie, full volume, which bloody hurts those of us with Tinnitus and we still can't understand you, and with pidgin English 'You...Go...Bye...Now?') or tell you they can't be bothered in one way or another.

One of the first things I learned to lipread was 'fuck's sake' muttered under the breath.

Yep all this. Then there are those who like to 'joke' and test if you really are deaf. Or those who say you are 'putting it on' because you hear/understand some words and not others. It wasn't funny the first time. It gets more and more hurtful as time goes on.

[JingsMahBucket]

@MitziK

Speak up about your hearing loss - people will be accommodating

Sometimes, yes, they will be.

But there are equal numbers of people who will turn away, put their hands to their mouth, walk ahead of you, mumble, do a great imitation of a ventriloquist, suddenly talk at you like they would to a foreigner (ie, full volume, which bloody hurts those of us with Tinnitus and we still can't understand you, and with pidgin English 'You...Go...Bye...Now?') or tell you they can't be bothered in one way or another.

One of the first things I learned to lipread was 'fuck's sake' muttered under the breath.

Jeebus, that’s horrible.

[JingsMahBucket]

@daisychicken
With masks, I won't understand anything and will often not know if someone is speaking to me. I have already faced difficulties with shop staff wearing masks and reacting badly when I explained I couldn't understand them and that I was deaf.

Do you mind me asking what this looks like, people reacting badly? I want to know so I can help step in if a fellow customer needs assistance. I’ve been slightly in own world lately standing in grocery store lines and I’d like to be able to spot cues. Thank you.

[MitziK]

Speak up about your hearing loss - people will be accommodating

Sometimes, yes, they will be.

But there are equal numbers of people who will turn away, put their hands to their mouth, walk ahead of you, mumble, do a great imitation of a ventriloquist, suddenly talk at you like they would to a foreigner (ie, full volume, which bloody hurts those of us with Tinnitus and we still can't understand you, and with pidgin English 'You...Go...Bye...Now?') or tell you they can't be bothered in one way or another.

One of the first things I learned to lipread was 'fuck's sake' muttered under the breath.

[daisychicken]

Speak up about your hearing loss - people will be accommodating

In my experience, some people are accomodating but many are not.

[daisychicken]

To add to EmbarrassingAdmissions post, for many people with profound hearing loss, there are very few hearing aids that can amplify enough, nor can any help if you have no hearing at all. It's not enough to say 'learn sign language' (many people with this level of hearing loss do learn BSL) because there are not enough hearing people who can also sign. Interpreters are also expensive and not available for all human interactions!

I have a cochlear implant, a type of hearing aid if you like, that is implanted in my ear and effectively allows the cochlear (the bit that interprets frequencies and sends signals to the brain) to be bypassed. It's generally only suitable for those with severe/profound sensorineural hearing loss. Yes, it helps me hugely but, I am still deaf. I still struggle every day to hear and understand what is said. It is just another form of aid to help me hear but doesn't solve my hearing problems.

Hearing aids and cochlear implants are not a solve all problem. They are used in conjunction with lip-reading, sign language, subtitles etc.

People covering their faces removes one of those ways to help Deaf people understand what is being said. I must also add that lipreading is a very simplistic way to describing the technique as Deaf people use the entire face to help interpret speech.

What we need, if we have to wear masks, are as many people as possible wearing transparent masks. It won't solve all the problems but it will help.

[AdoreTheBeach]

I have severe hearing loss and was just underway with addressing this when luck didn’t happened. I need a hearing aid but if course can’t get one right now

I have found telling people I’m hard of hearing at the start of conversation and to please speak up Has helped considerably, Aldo with people talking directly to you as opposed to turning away or talking to the side with the ear I can’t hear out of. Speak up about your hearing loss - people will be accommodating

[EmbarrassingAdmissions]

Not a quotation. For people wondering why lip-readers don't just try and manage with hearing aids, the tl;dr is that it's rather more complicated than that for many people and hearing aids aren't a solution for some of us.

For those of you asking about hearing aids for those of us who are lip-readers, please allow for the possibility that:
some of us know whether or not there are hearing aids that are suited to our type of hearing loss and where it is on the sound spectrum (and, like a PP's DH, sensorineural hearing loss is the one in the high frequency range and there wasn't a hearing aid for it until comparatively recently and for technical reasons it doesn't help everyone with losses in that range);
even if there is a hearing aid that matches somewhere where we have a loss on the sound spectrum (crudely, let's say the so-called 'conductive' range which is lower), then some of us have been born with anomalies that mean we don't have anything to conduct that sound, or have had infections/whatever that have so damaged the area that there is nothing to conduct the sound so there are some of us for who 'conductive' hearing aids don't do anything helpful;
hearing aids are unpopular with a substantial segment of their users and can be very inconvenient;
the quality of readily-available hearing aids means that they amplify the whole auditory spectrum where you are which means that some people are driven scatty by overwhelming background noise and that the sound of a crisp packet or cutlery on a plate can be genuinely painful (which is why some people turn them off and on);
there are people with hearing aids who rely more on lip-reading than they realise because it helps them set their auditory gain level somewhere where it's not painful;
there are now some very good, very expensive, high-quality hearing-aids for which you need to be able to pay approx £10-15K if you need both (not available on NHS unless someone is deaf-blind and even then, not always) and it's helpful to be tech-savvy to use them.

I've never had the sort of hearing that could be remediated by hearing aids. I'm getting a fair amount of resistance and not much help from some colleagues in our virtual meetings. They won't use the software that comes with live captions and they don't want to take care about sitting with their full face to a web camera, in reasonable lighting, so that I can see what they're saying. And these are all professionals, clinicians and academics.

And none of the above begins to cover the different considerations for people who have a lesser hearing loss but for whom:
(in the UK) English is a second language and they rely on seeing the face of the speaker;
cognitive disabilities mean that they need the help of seeing someone.

[MasakaBuzz]

I wear bilateral hearing aids. It’s going to be a pain in the nether regions. However for the next few months, I am just going to have to muddle through.

I am aware that I am not as bad as many people though. If it comes to it, I will simply have to take the mask off.