Masking a Deaf Person in a Hearing World

~Jennifer Prothero

[personal essay of my own experience]

I was diagnosed with a severe hearing loss as a young child. The process of which led to a challenge to my self-worth and confidence. I thank God every day for the strength I had to believe wholly and completely, in my value as a person regardless of what others were saying about me or to me. 

After trying hearing aids as a child for what seemed a miserable eternity, I chose not to aid my hearing loss. As a child, aiding was very difficult and emotionally painful. Now, as an adult, I am still not aided. Not because I think hearing aids are wrong but because after several attempts to train my brain to accept the help, it refuses. 

Those who know me may not even know I have a loss unless I've told you. This is because, from the time I was little, I've learned to “hear” using other tools, such as body language, lip reading, problem-solving via context, and gathering clues in every possible way to form a foundation upon which I can decipher what's being said to me without hearing most of the sounds. 

This brings me to the most recent challenge, mask-wearing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are so many grievances I wish to touch on it's nearly impossible to slow my mind enough to line them up to make sure each one gets a proper voice.

First, the obvious. Masking covers the other person's mouth, therefore, eliminating any chance I might have to read their lips. This also blocks their voice making the low frequencies, I do have in my range of hearing, obsolete. 

You're probably thinking, wait, you said you have a whole bucket filled with tricks to help you hear. Why not use something other than lip reading?

You’re right, I do have more tricks, but for them to be effective I have to use them all together. Think about a crime scene investigator. They have many tools to help them discover what they're looking at, but they need to use all of these tools to be effective. Using only one tool would give them lopsided information that would be useless, in the end.

The other side of this slippery slope is that even if you take off your mask, but I have to wear one, I can hear you, but I can't communicate for myself. Hearing loss affects the ability to hear one’s own voice, as well. Even in the best circumstances I struggle forming words and sounds so they execute clearly. I can do it to a certain degree sure, but I have to be given the opportunity to hear my own voice to make this work. With a mask over my mouth, that opportunity is voided. So, this makes see-through masks of no help. They still block frequency.

Another thing you may be saying if you've spoken to me in person or have heard me speak, is that I seem to be doing fine, that, I communicate well enough and I always seem to know what's been said and respond appropriately. That's because I work really hard to “hear.” The world comes at me and I quickly put it through the best filter I can and respond. 

However, there are times when that filter isn’t up for the task and I simply guess and I'm usually a pretty good guesser. There are also backups like just nodding and smiling. That usually works when I'm feeling stuck.

Masks may make you feel safer, and my ability to do my best to participate keeps you from feeling burdened, but the reality is that I can’t hear you when you have a mask on, and I can’t communicate when I have a mask on. 

Think about it like this. Imagine I put a blindfold on you and asked you to go about your day, claiming that because I can see, you should be fine.

I implore you to think about those around you who are required to put in more than the average amount of work to do average things, such as hearing. And if you see someone without a mask, don’t assume they are a foolish person who doesn’t care about the health of those around them instead, open your mind to the possibility that they are just trying to participate.