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Ask HN: Anyone working on improving face masks to accommodate hearing impaired?
I have been having issues understanding some people on the news who are wearing face masks while on camera. This is partially due to not seeing their mouths move but also because their speech seems to be muffled by the mask.
I have not had my hearing tested as before face masks were being worn, this issue had not presented itself.
I think this might be a common problem and was wondering if anyone is working on a solution or has any ideas of how to resolve this.
I am also concerned about what I may be missing in real life conversations due to mask wearing.
- jrowley 6y agoThis isn't a universal solution by any means, but for people you regularly interact with you, you could provide them transparent masks, that allow for better lip reading. For example: https://www.walmart.com/ip/UMfun-4PCS-Smile-Communicator-Face-Mask-with-Clear-Mouth-Expression-Lip-Reading-Mask/363512318?wmlspartner=wmtlabs&adid=22222222222373237929&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=e&wl1=s&wl2=c&wl3=75247960671953&wl4=pla-4578847496412383&wl5=&wl6=&wl7=&%20wl10=Walmart&wl12=363512318_10001052707&wl14=mask%20for%20lip%20reading&veh=sem&msclkid=f6120d64cb491e8d72d852ae5748c3a4 https://www.walmart.com/ip/UMfun-4PCS-Smile-Communicator-Fac...
- frompdx 6y agoalso because their speech seems to be muffled by the mask. I'm in the same boat but I know that I have a hearing loss and have known since I was young. Their speech isn't really muffled. You were relying on reading their lips and didn't know it. I did some speech therapy when I was young to learn how to lip read and one of the things I was shown was how someone looking down, covering their face, or mumbling affected my ability to hear. I was taught to ask others to not mumble or cover their mouth. Not much of an option to ask people to not cover their mouth at the moment. Closed captions help for tv/movies. Hearings aides help if you can stand to wear them. Usually I talk louder myself to encourage people to speak up. When I can't hear someone I don't hesitate to tell them I can't hear them and that they need to speak louder and more clearly. I'm not terribly concerned about masks affecting my ability to hear others. I just ask them to speak up and politely point out that I am hearing impaired. It is more difficult to understand people but I find that it is mostly low talkers/mumblers who I would have struggled to hear mask or no mask.
- sigmaprimus 6y agoI tried the Closed Captions but I found that it is quite slow (5-10 second Lag) and prone to errors when watching live broadcasts. Maybe a ML application for live captioning is a more attainable solution, I wonder if it would be possible to use my gaming laptop and a quality mic to generate faster and more accurate captions than the ones being provided.