Written and Illustrated by Caitlin Quinn, Edited by Lucinda Parfett
The door to the takeaway is open and cold air is streaming in. I stand behind the fryer warming my hands until the woman makes her way to the counter. She’s not one of our regulars, but she fits the mould; With greying hair and a tough raincoat made for the weather of the South West.
I shake the basket of chips in the fryer and meet her at the counter, standing 2 metres back to follow social distancing guidelines. In the background the fish is being kept cool in two ceiling height larder fridges which give off an electric hum, and to my right the oil is beginning to crackle.
“Hi there, can I help you?” I smile, though she might only see my cheeks rise behind the mask.
Nod. Head moving, her left hand waves and the flowers on the front of her handmade face covering are bobbing up and down with her jaw. The flowers stop moving.
Now what do I do? Do I check to see if there are any orders on the pass and hope it’s hers? Or do I ask her to repeat herself and risk not understanding again? Panic. Adrenaline. Breath quickening- and all because I can’t lipread behind a mask.
I know I'm not alone in this experience. As someone who is partially deaf, the struggle to be able to communicate through masks for the d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing community is incredibly difficult.
In a survey circulated on Twitter at the end of April, non-profit Ideas for Ears asked 302 respondents four questions on their worries about compulsory mask use in the UK:
79% - make life much harder
69% - cause them to mishear/misunderstand more regularly.
45%- make them more isolated
33%- reduce their independence
“It feels like a impossible situation, where you don’t want to be infected but you need to be able to communicate”
“For me, mask wearing can make people’s voices more muffled and harder to hear, and impossible to lipread” Lucy, a partially deaf student says “It feels like an impossible situation, where you don’t want to be infected but you need to be able to communicate”.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed countries’ readiness to adapt in the global spread of a virus, and shown a sharp contrast between adaptations made for hearing people, and for the d/Deaf community.
So, what can be done to communicate effectively with people with hearing loss?
Medical professionals used to wearing masks and encountering d/Deaf patients are one group who have had positive results, as our new normal is their everyday.
Case in point: Paramedic Danny Hughes (@SEC_AmbDanny) went viral on Twitter on 17th July with his video demonstrating Google Live Transcribe. This app (other transcription apps are available), converts speech to text. You hold it up towards the person you want to communicate with and speak and your words appear on screen for them to read. (Danny Hughes on Twitter)
“I have found it really beneficial in communicating”
Danny says he’s found it “really beneficial in communicating” with patients who rely on lipreading. For a small personal test I talked to my family in the kitchen, the extractor fan was on and the dog was barking (it picked that up and displayed “Dog Barking” at the bottom of the screen which made me smile!). It was good enough that I understood my partner’s mother wanted me to get the milk out of the fridge, and that she said “Where can I get this app?!”.
I’m a little nervous to test it on Friday at work, with more pressure and the background noise- I imagine our regular customers might be confused when I hold up my phone and ask them to speak to it while pointing at my hearing aids! However, a little anxiety and some teething problems for potentially never having to cry in the kitchen because I don’t understand- worth it. For a low tech version, you could write things down on your phone, paper or a whiteboard and hold it up, a severely under-used fix, just remember to sanitise the pen!
One of the most widely publicised solutions has been masks with a clear panel. (Pattern here: DHH Mask Project and Tutorial.pdf) These allow people who rely on lipreading to see mouth movements, which could be beneficial, however they have limitations. The most obvious issue is that for a person with hearing loss to benefit, everyone they interact with would need to be wearing one, and as one in six people in the UK has hearing loss (Action Hearing Loss, Facts and figures), we need clear masks to be the norm! This is proving difficult, as The National Society for Deaf Children reports “two manufacturers in the USA...produce face masks with clear panels which are safe for use in healthcare settings, but neither are currently available in the UK.” The “one or two small scale manufacturers...in the UK...will need to be approved for use in clinical services and will take some time to become widely available.” (Article: DIY face masks with clear panels).
“For me, mask wearing can make people’s voices more muffled, harder to hear, and impossible to lipread”
“Lipreading” is also somewhat of a misnomer, “face reading” would be more accurate, when I lipread I’m getting cues from the person’s mouth shape but also their cheeks, jaw and general expression- so just seeing their mouth might not help that much. Lucy says “for me, mask wearing can make people’s voices more muffled, harder to hear, and impossible to lipread”. Researchers at Johns Hopkins are developing “the first fully transparent face mask”, so it’s possible this will solve that issue if widely used (The Clear Mask) Until then, for me, Lucy and the respondents to the Ideas for Ears survey who are concerned about masks “blocking visibility to the face or mouth preventing lipreading” (85%), we will look at some other solutions!
“Deaf awareness training is not required at all anywhere and it really should be considering basically everyone becomes deaf if they live long enough”
Rebecca Morris who has mild hearing loss exacerbated by Auditory Processing Disorder, says one of the biggest issues is “Deaf awareness training is not required at all anywhere and it really should be considering basically everyone becomes deaf if they live long enough” and as more than 40% of people over 50 years old have hearing loss, rising to 70% of people over the age of 70 (Action Hearing Loss), this seems very sensible. In an Action for Hearing Loss Survey “People told us they feel that the most beneficial types of support to help feel more confident being open about their hearing loss at work would be knowing colleagues had received training or advice about working with people with hearing loss (53%)”. (Working For Change AHL)
There is little specific research into the benefits of d/Deaf awareness training, and despite there being many companies offering courses and resources, none list empirical data on improvements for d/Deaf people after this training. A 2016 study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison looking at general disability awareness training found that
Often the simplest solutions are the best, Rebecca says “Sometimes I have to take people into a side room if there is background [noise] and that's a surprise to them”. If it’s possible, move your conversation to a quieter area, you will be addressing the worries of Ideas for Ears respondents that masks block sound and reduce volume (55%), or, if it’s safe to do so, socially distance, temporarily remove your mask to communicate and then put it back on.
Yesterday became my worst nightmare for deaf communication. My partner works in healthcare and our family was exhibiting possible COVID symptoms- we immediately booked a test and were given a drive through appointment within an hour. Everyone is asked to wear a mask in the car, and keep the window closed, you speak to the staff through your car window while all of you are wearing masks. In the moment I completely forgot to try out my Live Transcribe app and instead looked blankly at the man, and then to my partner who translated. Maybe my least favourite solution on this list, but one which is sometimes necessary, is to communicate via a family or friend. While I’m currently teaching myself, like many people with hearing loss, I wasn’t brought up signing, so the app suggested by the government InterpreterNow wasn’t the most helpful thing which could be provided. Furthermore when you click the link on your text/email confirmation of your test date, the “Do you need a BSL interpreter?” question is at the very bottom.
Perhaps everyone but me thoroughly reads all the information on every government page, but if not- maybe they could use drop down answers for each question, so you could navigate to what you need at a glance. For the test centre I’d practiced my signs for “I have hearing loss” and “I can’t hear you”- but staff didn’t appear to have been taught any BSL. I sat in confusion as the nurse apparently explained the test procedure, and then signalled to me to roll down the window. There is a government video which explains what will happen at a test centre (with subtitles!), but it wasn’t linked on the FAQs, so I’m putting it here. (COVID Test Centre Video [CC])
“I wouldn’t be able to communicate with others unless they knew some BSL” Lucy
Sign Health, The Deaf Health Charity says “BSL was recognised by the UK government as a language in its own right in March 2003, but there are no accurate figures for the number of sign language users in the country.” (Sign Health) The fact that BSL isn’t taught to all children with hearing loss as standard, or widely used by hearing people is one of the reasons we have suggested other methods of communication in this article. Don’t assume that every d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing person will know BSL, but if everyone knew even basic signs, it would help everyone- not just Deaf people.
“I think if most people had a basic grasp of BSL then it would definitely make things easier” Lucy
Although there are many variables which affect if and when these solutions will be helpful, putting some of them into place- and above all remembering that people around you might be struggling to hear, with masks becoming the norm, will make things better for everyone.
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