This is a uniquely fascinating time to be a person who thinks a lot about how we communicate. The most basic unit of communication, one person speaking to another face to face, has been disrupted—now we speak over video and text and email and phone, but almost never face to face. And of course all those alternative platforms give us new and interesting ways to miscommunicate!
Now that many of us are venturing out of our homes again, a new set of obstacles has come up. We wear masks to protect our community, which is a very good thing. But communicating with a mask on can be very tricky.
Many people who are hard-of-hearing rely on lip reading to boost their comprehension. Even those who aren’t hard-of-hearing unconsciously combine lip reading, facial expression, and the words spoken to create meaning of what they’ve heard. Masks take away or limit our ability to do all three of those things.
These tips may seem obvious, but I’m going to throw them out there anyway, since I’ve been noticing my own habits keeping me from communicating as well as I can. When you’re out in the world, wearing a mask and speaking to other people wearing masks:
- Look right at the person you’re speaking to so you can direct your voice to them.
- Speak just a little louder (like one click of the volume button) than you would normally.
- Enunciate so they have a better chance of hearing all your words.
- Think about being the animated version of yourself—if you were a cartoon, you would nod a little bigger, raise your eyebrows more for emphasis, etc.
All of these easy tips can help cut down on miscommunication and smooth the interactions we have with those around us.
