Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK.
DCAL Research Centre, University College London, London, UK.
Cogn Res Princ Implic. 2022 Sep 5;7(1):81. doi: 10.1186/s41235-022-00431-4.
Face coverings have been key in reducing the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, they have hindered interpersonal communication, particularly for those who rely on speechreading to aid communication. The available research indicated that deaf/hard of hearing (HoH) people experienced great difficulty communicating with people wearing masks and negative effects on wellbeing. Here we extended these findings by exploring which factors predict deaf/HoH people's communication difficulties, loss of information, and wellbeing. We also explored the factors predicting perceived usefulness of transparent face coverings and alternative ways of communicating. We report the findings from an accessible survey study, released in two written and three signed languages. Responses from 395 deaf/HoH UK and Spanish residents were collected online at a time when masks were mandatory. We investigated whether onset and level of deafness, knowledge of sign language, speechreading fluency, and country of residence predicted communication difficulties, wellbeing, and degree to which transparent face coverings were considered useful. Overall, deaf/HoH people and their relatives used masks most of the time despite greater communication difficulties. Late-onset deaf people were the group that experienced more difficulties in communication, and also reported lower wellbeing. However, both early- and late-onset deaf people reported missing more information and feeling more disconnected from society than HoH people. Finally, signers valued transparent face shields more positively than non-signers. The latter suggests that, while seeing the lips is positive to everyone, signers appreciate seeing the whole facial expression. Importantly, our data also revealed the importance of visual communication other than speechreading to facilitate face-to-face interactions.
口罩在减少 COVID-19 传播方面发挥了关键作用。与此同时，它们阻碍了人际交流，尤其是对那些依赖唇读来辅助交流的人。现有研究表明，聋人/听力障碍者（HoH）在与戴口罩的人交流时遇到了很大的困难，并且对他们的幸福感产生了负面影响。在这里，我们通过探索哪些因素预测聋人/听力障碍者的交流困难、信息丢失和幸福感，扩展了这些发现。我们还探讨了预测透明口罩和替代交流方式的有用性的因素。我们报告了一项可访问性调查研究的结果，该研究以两种书面形式和三种手语形式发布。在口罩强制佩戴期间，我们在线收集了来自 395 名英国和西班牙聋人/听力障碍者的在线调查回复。我们调查了耳聋的起始和程度、手语知识、唇读流利程度以及居住国是否预测交流困难、幸福感以及对透明口罩的有用性的程度。总的来说，尽管聋人/听力障碍者及其亲属在交流方面遇到了更大的困难，但他们大多数时候还是戴着口罩。发病晚的聋人在交流方面遇到的困难最大，幸福感也最低。然而，无论是早期还是晚期发病的聋人，都比听力障碍者报告说错过了更多的信息，并且与社会的联系更加疏远。最后，手语使用者比非手语使用者更积极地评价透明面罩。后者表明，虽然每个人都认为看到嘴唇是积极的，但手语使用者更欣赏看到整个面部表情。重要的是，我们的数据还揭示了除了唇读之外，视觉交流对促进面对面互动的重要性。
