2023 Volume 69 Issue 1 Pages 62-67
1. We conducted a questionnaire survey to investigate the impact of mask-wearing, a preventive measure against COVID-19 infection, on children and adults with hearing loss in Japan and received responses from 135 participants. 2. Children and adults with hearing loss rely not only on their hearing but also on facial expressions, especially mouth movements, of their conversational partners to extract information. When a mask covers the mouth of the conversational partner, understanding conversations becomes very difficult for people with hearing loss. This finding was confirmed by our questionnaire survey. 3. Advances in hearing aids are expected to improve the ability to obtain auditory information. 4. However, the real problem is that people with normal hearing cannot detect the disability of people with hearing loss based on their appearance. 5. To solve this issue, people with hearing loss as well as otolaryngologists should make efforts to promote awareness regarding the hearing loss symbol among the general population.
