Shortly after the pandemic began, we began collecting various types of face coverings (transparent and nontransparent) to study the sound quality using a broad noise presented through a styrofoam mannequin head with a speaker mounted in its mouth.
From Macrame to Masks
This adjustable elastic was designed for those with special needs, such as those with autism and wearers of hearing aids. The principal is simple: One strap goes around the neck, the other one around the head. The problem was the bottom elastic—it gets caught in the hearing aids and the elastic turns into a slingshot.
A Love for Hearing, A Love For Life
If there was ever a time to live with hearing loss, it's now. Technology has improved exponentially in recent years, and the internet has allowed people with hearing loss to participate in communities and real-time conversations in a way that used to be almost impossible.
Old Normal
If there was ever a time to live with hearing loss, it's now. Technology has improved exponentially in recent years, and the internet has allowed people with hearing loss to participate in communities and real-time conversations in a way that used to be almost impossible.
Helping Those with Hearing Loss During COVID-19
One group of people that have been hard done by during the pandemic and its repercussions is the hearing loss community. With masks and social distancing becoming recommended or even mandatory in many public places, it can be tricky to communicate with a community that relies on context given by lip-reading.
A Design Fix for Face Masks
My wife Nathalie and I are both artisans, originally from Normandy, France, now living in New Jersey. I design and make furniture and Nathalie works with textiles. When the pandemic started affecting our New York-New Jersey area, we watched as local hospitals were in dire need of PPE (personal protective equipment). We wanted to use our talents to help, so we started making fabric face masks with ties/elastic around the head.
Do the Best You Can Until You Know Better
There’s a quote I like by the writer, Maya Angelou: "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” So I got up off the mat, brushed myself off, mask in place, and put one foot in front of the other. I then went back to that drugstore and simply, in silence, found what I needed.
Managing Hearing Loss in the Time of COVID-19
Frequent, proper handwashing, hand sanitizer use, and not touching your face were the early health and safety directives as the COVID-19 pandemic spread from country to country and then state to state. In the past few weeks, social distancing and face masks became the next tools in helping to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Both are particular challenges for those with and without hearing challenges.