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Original poster

Does anyone else find wearing a mask means they can't hear?

113 replies

QualityChecked · 27/11/2021 20:40

I suppose it makes sense, when others are wearing a mask, it's harder to hear them and/or you don't have the facial cues that help you understand what people are saying.

However I find that when I'm wearing a mask I feel strangely disorientated and find it harder to understand others, even if they don't have their face covered.

I'll comply with any requirements as I always have, I'm still wearing it in shops and on public transport but I have a couple of theatre trips coming up and having to wear a mask will spoil my enjoyment. It might be a price I'll have to pay but I wouldn't have bought the tickets knowing I'd have to wear a mask and I I won't be buying any more if they are compulsory (the PM doesn't yet seem sure which indoor spaces will be affected).

OP posts:
visitingagain · 27/11/2021 22:33

No @QualityChecked I just find this thread weird, it's posting about how much you hate doing something you are exempt from, not sharing your experiences and it looks like a thinly veiled provocation to anti mask sentiment. If you don't feel that way you should change the title.

Somebodylikeyew · 27/11/2021 22:36

I feel like I can’t see as well with a mask on, which is obviously not strictly true! I guess all our senses work so closely together that it doesn’t take much to just subtly affect the effect of the whole. It’s very weird.

Somebodylikeyew · 27/11/2021 22:37

@visitingagain

No *@QualityChecked* I just find this thread weird, it's posting about how much you hate doing something you are exempt from, not sharing your experiences and it looks like a thinly veiled provocation to anti mask sentiment. If you don't feel that way you should change the title.
Whereas i didn’t take it like that at ALL.

Maybe, just maybe, we’re all different.

eurochick · 27/11/2021 22:38

Yep. The worst was when I had my second jab. It was in a shopping centre hub so there was a fair bit of background noise. The nurse booking me in had a soft Caribbean accent and we were both wearing masks. It was impossible. I felt like asking her to put the questions through the medium of interpretive dance...

Vapeyvapevape · 27/11/2021 22:39

I can’t hear properly when I’m wearing sunglasses, no one believes me but I have to take them off if I’m speaking to anyone.

Original poster
QualityChecked · 27/11/2021 22:41

@visitingagain

No *@QualityChecked* I just find this thread weird, it's posting about how much you hate doing something you are exempt from, not sharing your experiences and it looks like a thinly veiled provocation to anti mask sentiment. If you don't feel that way you should change the title.
The title says a mask affects my hearing. Which it does and apparently this isn't uncommon. [Confused]
OP posts:
PearlAsylum · 27/11/2021 22:41

[quote visitingagain]@penguinwithasuitcase I'm not looking to fight but this is an extremely strange thread of people who wear masks because they aren't exempt but have terrible communication disorders when they do.

Personally would say you are all exempt from mask wearing and should just crack onl[/quote]
I wear a hearing aid. I am not exempt.

The two things are not mutually exclusive.

Original poster
QualityChecked · 27/11/2021 22:42

@Vapeyvapevape

I can’t hear properly when I’m wearing sunglasses, no one believes me but I have to take them off if I’m speaking to anyone.
I dont know if it's that infant hear it indefinitely find I can't relate/communicate effectively in sunglasses. It's old fashioned now but it used to be considered rude not to remove them when talking to someone.
OP posts:
Chessie678 · 27/11/2021 22:44

@visitingagain
It's a spectrum. Some people find it harder to wear them than others. I'm not going to claim exemption because the difficulties I have with masks aren't sufficiently severe. I am able to wear them. In any case, the difficulty for me is more about other people wearing them than me wearing them. A lot of people wouldn't want to claim exemption anyway even if they had severe difficulties because of the abuse they would get.

penguinwithasuitcase · 27/11/2021 22:45

@Somebodylikeyew

I feel like I can’t see as well with a mask on, which is obviously not strictly true! I guess all our senses work so closely together that it doesn’t take much to just subtly affect the effect of the whole. It’s very weird.
I'm finding all this so interesting –I often forget I'm wearing a mask completely but I can totally imagine how this might feel.

If I don't move my hands when I speak, I can't follow my line of thought as effectively –again, not strictly connected at all, but one has an impact on the other.

Is that a similar experience, do you think?

LaurieFairyCake · 27/11/2021 22:46

Nah bollocjs to the folk thinking we're starting an anti mask fight

I wear them ALL the time in London - and I believe everyone should if they can - I can still bloody complain about it though !

I can't do steps in a mask - I would 100% fall down on my dodgy arthritic knees and hips

And my hearing is fine but I need the extra processing from subtitles and seeing peoples expressions - it's just too hard work and it's tiring to try to listen to someone in a mask

I'm basically too fucking tired to try to listen to people in masks so I just don't have conversations in them 🤷‍♀️

Touslesfromages · 27/11/2021 22:48

Yes to all of the above, it's so weird and disorientating. I'm also someone who needs subtitles for tv despite no hearing issues though!

I also find it very hard to keep track of DC in shops etc, as they are totally out of sight under the line of the mask. And it's also impossible to see or communicate with the baby when in the carrier on my chest!

Amandasummers · 27/11/2021 23:05

Yes I feel like this. Many people do that thing where when your trying to concentrate/look for something when driving you turn the radio down….is it not to do with the senses being connected so one may suffer if your straining with another? My dd drives me nuts because she doesn’t ever hear what’s been said to her, it’s improved dramatically now her glasses prescription has changed, I assumed her hearing was suffering because she was putting so much effort into seeing…

OhMaria · 27/11/2021 23:09

I suspect its because the nose has a bigger role in hearing and balance than previously thought

JaceLancs · 27/11/2021 23:22

I’m deaf and lip read so I’m screwed again
Dreading the return of masks - but it will save me a fortune as won’t be going out much and only shopping for essentials such as food

Timeisavirtue · 27/11/2021 23:23

Yep, I struggle even without the mask... not sure how I’m gonna manage at work tbh, I have quite a strenuous job with8n retail and wearing a mask is slowing me down.

50ShadesOfCatholic · 27/11/2021 23:25

yes to so much of this! I have found my people. I hear the TV better when I turn the lights down, I am more efficient with the blinds turned slightly, my son seemed to calm down immeasurably when he got glasses... it's a sensory thing, isn't it. We get overloaded and have to conserve energy to copy.

Wincher · 27/11/2021 23:28

Yes I definitely have this - I have carried on wearing a mask but I find in a shop or a museum or whatever if a member of staff is talking to me I have to pull down my mask to listen! I try not to as obviously this is face to face contact so exactly the point where the mask is needed, but it’s almost instinctive.

I can’t listen to the radio without my glasses on either.

RichTeaRichTea · 28/11/2021 05:06

Yes I have two toddlers and I find it hard to hear them properly when wearing a mask. I have to bend down and get them to talk straight into my ear sometimes. I still wear a mask where and when required. I’m not sure what benefit there is in banning people who are wearing masks from talking about difficulties they might have wearing them, but it’s been like that on here since the start - it’s not enough to just wear a mask, you have to wear it joyfully apparently.

kowari · 28/11/2021 06:11

I'm basically too fucking tired to try to listen to people in masks so I just don't have conversations in them
Same here, it also makes me anxious to look at masked faces so I'm not looking at the person. They shut down all social interactions for me.

kowari · 28/11/2021 06:18

- it’s not enough to just wear a mask, you have to wear it joyfully apparently.
Yes, there are posters who like to continually say what an easy little thing it is to do to protect people, when it is not an easy thing for everyone. We aren't allowed a category between joyful and exempt. It's not easy if you struggle to communicate when wearing one.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 28/11/2021 06:25

people talking behind a mask,

user1477391263 · 28/11/2021 06:32

but this is a ridiculous anti mask thread. If people have disabilities that mean they can't wear masks... don't wear them, you're exempt.

Piss off, seriously.
It's not a black and white thing. Lots of people find it harder to follow conversations in noisy rooms when masks are worn, even if they don't have an actual disability.

Also, I think you're a bit confused about what people are talking about. I have a hearing issue, so I struggle when other people wear masks. If I were to stop wearing one myself, it would make no difference. It's not a case of being "exempt."

rifling · 28/11/2021 07:01

but this is a ridiculous anti mask thread. If people have disabilities that mean they can't wear masks... don't wear them, you're exempt.
You have missed the point. I wear my mask anyway but I still hate it. I now have to wear it outside too. I hate that even more!

shouldistop · 28/11/2021 07:15

You have missed the point. I wear my mask anyway but I still hate it. I now have to wear it outside too. I hate that even more!

You're not allowed to hate it though. You have to do it with absolute joy in your heart or you're not doing the pandemic right and the protective barrier of your mask will stop working. You selfish granny killer!