Communication barriers during the pandemic

Face masks with a communication window - a see through area at the mouth - so people who rely on lipreading can give informed consent to treatment and care and can communicate with those who are wearing masks. Surely in 2020, it is possible to design a mask that allows people to see the wearer's mouth.

Why the contribution is important

I believe that these are almost 1M people in Scotland who have a hearing loss and who lip read on a daily basis.
For people like me who are very hard of hearing and who uses aids supllemented by lip reading this crisis has been more isolating than for most. I cannot use a telephone as I can't hear. I cannot use Zoom as most of the time the other person's microphone is not powerful enough to project their voice at a level I need and there are no realt time speech to text programmes that are accurate and free.

I need to be able to see the person's lips to be able to "hear" what they are saying. I am lucky that I have not had to go to hospital. What would happen to my right to give informed consent if I cannot lip read the person who is speaking to me?

by MJanus on May 06, 2020 at 11:42AM

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