Lip Sync

Now that we are socially distancing and wearing mask, I have noticed that looking into someone’s eyes is a bit easier for me. Since I am hard of hearing I normally read lips to help me communicate with others. This is a surprise to folks since I am good at hiding this factoid about myself. But I have mastered the skill so that my hearing loss is not looked at as a hindrance. Also, to prevent folks from yelling at me thinking they are doing me a favor. Do not worry I can only read lips if you are directly in front of me.

I am completely deaf in one ear and if you are on the side of my deaf ear, I would not understand a word. My hearing loss is a bit weird since I can hear someone from that side, I just cannot make out what is being said. If the room is noisy, I cannot understand anything resulting in minimal responses from me. So naturally the masks make it a bit more difficult for me to be a participant in conversations.

While talking to a lady, I noticed the woman’s kept smiling but I can only see that through her eyes. Her eyes did not lie, and I could see that the smile was authentic, not at all forced. Since the mask covered the bottom half of her face and I had to focus more attention to the upper half. I kind of was thinking that I could barely understand what she was saying because her mouth was covered. By me looking at her eyes and expressions, I figured what was being said. There is no morale to this story I just wanted to share about having to be forced to use another sense to communicate. However, I learned that I am always focused on the bottom half of the face and forget to look up. The eyes are the window to the soul and If I want the full understanding I must look up!