Published by: Megan Wyatt
Photo by Leslie Westbrook
Kevin Zerangue knew for years that he had hearing loss. However, he didn't realize until the pandemic just how much he relied on visual cues and close proximity to others during conversations.
Although masks and distancing are useful in preventing the spread of an infectious disease such as the coronavirus, they also can muffle voices and impair hearing for some.
"I'd been noticing the problem before the pandemic, mainly from my family pointing things out," Zerangue said. "I never really was much of a lip reader. I was able to kind of focus on the way they spoke and could guess what they were saying."
Zerangue, 56, finally visited an audiologist a few months ago to get fitted for hearing aids. He's part of a growing group of people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who have realized the extent of their hearing loss during the pandemic.
Dave Cavalier, a New Iberia audiologist, and Mary "Mimi" Osborne, a Morgan City audiologist, say they've seen an influx in new patients among the working population since widespread masking mandates went into effect last year.
"Now that we've masked everybody, not only have we taken away the visual cues to understand what someone is saying. We've also taken a weak consonant sound — the difference between ball, hall and wall — and blocked it with a mask," Osborne said. "It became very evident to people very quickly who may have had a slight problem with hearing before that they're not functioning well....
Read the full article on The Acadiana Advocate here.
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