Hearing trouble more obvious with masks

DALLAS — As nurse Teri Wheat made her rounds at a Texas maternity ward, she began to realize she was having a hard time understanding the new mothers who were wearing masks due to the coronavirus pandemic.

So she got her hearing tested and now wears hearing aids.

Her hearing loss “became more noticeable the more barriers that we had to have,” said Wheat, 52, who wears a mask and a face shield at work to protect herself and others against the virus.

Hearing specialists across the U.S. say they have seen an uptick in visits from people like Wheat, who only realized how much they relied on lip reading and facial expressions when people started wearing masks that cover the nose and mouth.

“More than likely, these are people that had some kind of hearing loss prior to all this starting but they were adapting,” said Andrea Gohmert, director of the hearing clinic at the University of Texas at Dallas’ Callier Center for Communication Disorders.

Most of the time, hearing loss happens gradually and people will often wait around seven years to get their hearing tested, according to audiologists, the professionals who assess hearing.

“We would have seen these people eventually but it could have been quite a few years from now,” said Catherine Palmer, audiology director for the western Pennsylvania health-care system UPMC.

Audiologists say it’s not just the lack of visual clues that’s making hearing difficult: masks and plastic barriers also reduce the sound level. And standing closer to the person you are talking to has been eliminated because of social distancing.