Posted on 08/04/2020 11:54:18 AM PDT by Kaslin
Since COVID-19 mask mandates and social distancing, my mother has lost much of her ability to navigate through the hearing world, decreasing her independence and confidence.
My mother is a very independent and somewhat private person, and at 94 still lives in her own home, helps care for my father, and drives (cautiously). So I was surprised during my last visit when she asked me to go with her to her doctor. The doctor’s office had just started offering face-to-face appointments again and she hadn’t been feeling well.
We wore our masks and sat in the socially distanced chairs in the spare waiting room. When they called my mother to the examination room, she asked me to join her. It wasn’t exactly protocol, but I was finally allowed to accompany her.
When the doctor walked in with a face mask and a clear face shield, I knew why I was there. I was my mother’s interpreter: from English to English.
My mother wears two hearing aids and has managed for eight years to get by with just a few adjustments. But since COVID-19 mask mandates and social distancing, she has lost much of her ability to navigate the hearing world, decreasing her independence and her confidence.
The National Center for Health Statistics reports that approximately 48 million American adults have some degree of hearing loss. Hearing loss increases with age: nearly 25 percent of those aged 65 to 74 have hearing loss and 50 percent of age 75 and older have disabling hearing loss.
As social distancing and face masks became prescribed to manage coronavirus, millions of people face new hurdles in communicating—with doctors, dentists, bankers, clerks, and even neighbors. Communication is a complex transaction that depends on visual cues, said Dr. Debra Tucci, director of the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders.
“Factors that influence how well our spoken language is received include eye contact and body language, the tone of our voices and our facial expressions, and environmental lighting and background noise,” she said. “Cloth face coverings obscure facial features, disrupting speech, and the emotion conveyed by the speaker. They also filter speech, making sounds less clear. When it is harder to understand speech — whether because of face coverings, distance, or other factors — we have fewer cognitive resources to process information.”
In fact, research shows that face masks reduce the volume of someone’s speech anywhere from 2 to 25 decibels. Add six feet of social distancing and the sound really deteriorates, said Barbara Kelley, executive director of Hearing Loss Association of America.
As a result, communication suffers, and feelings of stress increase. For people with hearing loss, the sense of isolation is already present. By adding directives to “shelter in place,” shutting doors to community centers, churches, rehabilitation centers, and senior care homes, and cutting back on neighbor and family visits, isolation increases, along with a sense of abandonment.
Yishane Lee, an editor of Hearing Health magazine, surveyed their hearing-challenged readers and found an overwhelming 87 percent said they were experiencing difficulty communicating in the age of coronavirus. Many added that being able to hear from a distance of at least six feet while the speaker is covering the bottom half of his face has been daunting, to say the least. “Even hearing people seem to be having issues,” said one survey taker.
There is also the difficulty of fitting mask elastics with hearing devices — 42 percent in the survey cited difficulty wearing their hearing aids or cochlear implant processors with a mask, with the fear of losing the expensive devices. There is also the issue with canceled appointments with hearing aid specialists for cleaning and adjusting the hearing aids, which is done periodically to improve hearing.
Overall, the stress of health concerns, isolation, and communication loss can cause additional problems. Carolyn Stern, assistant director of outreach and strategic initiatives for the Center for Hearing and Communication (CHC), is particularly concerned with the psychological effect of these complicated interactions.
“It is triggering stress, anxiety, aggravation, frustration, and fear because now they’re entering situations they used to manage well, and now their communication strategies are not working,” she explains. “They’re no longer in control and are cut off.”
“The issue is perhaps most acute where clear communication is most vital — in the medical setting. For those who can’t hear, the fear of being lost in translation with your physician is only compounded by the stress of illness and treatment at a time like this.”
Some proposed options include masks with clear face coverings to enable lip reading and, for those who are tech-savvy, the use of talk-to-text apps on phones and tablets, or attaching a directional microphone to a smartphone.
With no end to wearing masks and practicing social distancing in sight, when even family visits are cut, the challenges for those with hearing challenges, especially seniors, remain. The National Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders offers eight “tips” for helping those with hearing loss get through this pandemic. The first two are patience and awareness, and the final one is “bring someone with you.” This person will be your interpreter, who can “translate” the message from the speaker to the person with a hearing loss, from English to English.
WHAT!!!!????
:)
I have a hearing aid in my right ear. Maybe I can use that as an excuse
Hearing impaired? Ever try to take the ferschluginer mask off while wearing a hearing aid?
All of these mask nazis can kiss my a$$ and go to Hell.
I have hearing aids in both ears. It’s fun to ask people in masks wo repeat themselves ad-nausium.
Yeah, much speech already sounded like spoken with a mask on, really a joke now.
The big problem with the masks is not confusion:
1. They don’t work because they force the wearers to inhale and exhale around their edges. They are not military grade small particle masks.
2. And even if they worked, for most people, the disease is not serious enough to justify forcing everyone to wear one. This is not the Sanish flu or Ebola.
3. They make breathing more difficult, which is why we are seeing even young store clerks uncover their nostrils.
Lol
I was born without an eardrum in my right ear....and hearing loss in my left ear. I know EXACTLY what they are talking about.
Nice try Christine Weerts(author) but the left doesn’t care. We’re talking about people who have no problem with people dying if they think it will damage Trump.
Same here. I have hearing aids in both ears. I ask the other person to lower their mask so I can read their lips. They usually do.
My beard has anti-viral properties. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
About the only things the mask does is block spray from a sneeze and fog up my glasses.
I do, too.
I’ve gone from a naturally chatty, cheery shopper to a sullen, isolated hermit.
Most people loving their muzzles do not give one damn that you’re struggling to hear the least little thing nor do they notice the suffering it causes you.
It’s all about this 100% FATAL AND DEADLY PLAGUE that they’re SO terrified of.
If you’re so afraid of “dying” that you give up *living*, exactly *what* have you gained?
I went to my first appointment with my new dentist today. Masks came up and he said something interesting which I will paraphrase:
“I wear a mask every day all day and it’s no big deal. But when I go to the grocery store and have to put one on I hate it. I feel like a donkey’s ass. It’s stupid doesn’t do any good. Just WASH YOUR HANDS!”
My step-daughter wears two hearing aids due a 108 degree fever episode when she was a baby. She has done very well, has a good job. Masks give her a huge problem, she didn’t realize how much she combines lip reading with her aids.
Yes, me too.
Your Dentist is correct. Just wash your hands
Mere existence.
Nothing even approaching what Jesus meant when He said "I came that they might gave life, and have it abundantly."
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