People with hearing loss advocate for clear face masks during the pandemic

Reading lips is an essential communication tool for many in the hard of hearing community – a task made much harder with the use of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Virtual communications haven’t been much easier, with glitchy Zoom calls and videos shared online without closed captioning making it even harder to connect with the rest of the world.
Heidy Wager is executive director at Hear Entendre Quebec, a non-profit group based in Montreal serving the anglophone community affected by hearing loss. She, along with program coordinator Abby Stonehouse, have launched an awareness campaign to encourage people to be mindful of how they communicate with others during the pandemic.
“Hearing loss is an invisible disability and most people don’t see it,” Wager said.
“There is a huge community that is suffering right now,” Stonehouse added.
According to the The Canadian Association of the Deaf, there are roughly 3.21 million people who are hard of hearing in the country, and 357,000 who are culturally deaf. Stonehouse said reading lips and facial expressions are a must for many of them.
“When I was going out in public I realized how much I relied on lip reading, they would ask me important questions like in the grocery store, but I wouldn’t be able to understand what they’re saying.” Stonehouse said.
“I’ve had some members who said they were in the pharmacy and they have some of their personal info being shouted at them.”
Accepting that face masks would be a staple in daily life for at least the next year, the team decided to brainstorm potential solutions to the problem.
“A great solution is clear masks or masks with a transparent window,” Stonehouse said.
“There’s been a lot of people just desperate for it from the get-go, needing that option. Especially we hear of people with young kids who have hearing loss and they have to put their kid in daycare but the educators, the kid can’t read their lips, it can affect the child development.”
An open letter has been sent to Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante about the struggles the hard of hearing community has had during the ongoing pandemic and what they say she and other politicians can do to help.
“These public officials go in front of the tv, if they can wear clear masks in public even just for a few seconds, it will encourage the public to wear them,” said Katrina Tarondo, board member at Hear Entendre Quebec.
“We didn’t get a response as of yet [to the letter], we got a response that they’ve received it and they’re reviewing it.”