Face Masks

As a hearing impaired woman who wears behind the ear hearing aids, the face mask has added additional stress and worries to my life, thanks to the Coronavirus. I mean most people don’t have a second thought about wearing a mask. They put it on and go about their business. They talk, laugh and hear others as they normally would. But for someone like me, it’s all different. I have to put it on carefully over my hearing aids. In addition, if you wear glasses, you have a double whammy putting the mask around the glasses and the aid. All three items must play nice behind each one of my ears, but usually they don’t. The mask wants to come off, or my aid wants to come out of my ear or my glasses want to move. Then the fun part comes. Trying to understand people talking when they have a mask on. Most people I can hear just great. But, nine times out of ten, I run into the soft talkers or the mumblers that we all know and love. Asking them to repeat what they just said just increases my frustration because when they repeat it, it’s in the same voice level they originally said it in. Taking off the mask for me is the icing on the cake. I just can’t seem to get it off without one or both of my aids coming out. I always make it a point to stand still while doing this because if not, If I do lose one or both of my aids, at least I know where they are. Some people aren’t as lucky and end up losing an aid or two. In reality, there are Oto Clips you can purchase at Sonotone Hearing Aid Centers that attach to your aids to prevent them from being lost. A very wise investment if you are wearing masks a lot. We all need to get one. Unfortunately, you can’t purchase anything that helps with the low speaking talkers or humblers. Hang in there everyone!