Hello everyone! Emily here. I hope that you are doing well in feeling happy.
Today, we're going to go over five ways to survive everyone wearing masks. Quarantine
has opened my eyes and my ears to more issues that we hard-of-hearing people
deal with on a daily basis. I took people not wearing masks for
granted. I didn't realize what a blessing it was to go to the store and be able to see
everyone's lips every day. I did where my "seeing easy" mask the store the
other day. If you have not seen my video check it out. I'm sure you'll love it. It
was so hard to communicate at the store because other people didn't have a
"seeing easy" mask like me. I could not read their lips and I am a big-time lip
reader so if you didn't see my last video, be sure to subscribe to my channel
down below so that you can see more of my great videos and you won't miss another one.
Please hit the like button on this video and remember to share this on social
media so that we can spread the word and help increase awareness for D/deaf and
hard of hearing people. So I've decided to share five things you can do
to survive the "Maskageddon". We go! Please stick around the end of this
video because if you do, I will share tips that your friends, family, people
around you can do... It's a great reason to share the video and say "Hey everyone's
wearing masks if you want to help me out check out this video." So stick around to
the end of the video for those tips and tricks. Ok so here are the five ways that
you can survive other people wearing masks:
Number one: Reduce background noise. I know this is like "How do I do that? I
have no control." I know that sometimes it feels like you don't have control, but reducing
background noise can come in various ways such as: tunning your hearing aids
accordingly. I have my audiologist set my settings so that (my aids) will automatically
block out background noise. If you know about that, make sure you're using it, if
you don't know about that, talk to your audiologist get that programmed on your
hearing aid(s). Be aware that also, your hearing(s) aid may have separate channels
that you can switch to when you're in a noisy situation. And also, do your hearing
aids have apps? The cool thing is you don't have to wait
to go to the audiologist to make minor adjustments to your hearing aids. I have a (RESound) Enso 3D
app. I'll show it right here so as you can see I can adjust the volume and the levels
of min your name just right from the palm of my hand. It's pretty awesome. Okay
number two: Make sure that people have your attention before talking. Pay
attention to the visuals. Now, as D/deaf and hard of hearing people, we're
usually already visually aware but you can help others if you just let them
know, "Hey go ahead and make sure you visually get my attention before you
start talking to me so I can tune in." I feel like this is always applicable for
the D/deaf and hard of hearing that we need to be attentive before someone
starts trying to communicate with us or else we just don't know. But with masks
especially, because the masks are over the mouth, we don't even get that visual cue
that anyone's lips are moving so it's really important that we are visually in
tune before people start trying to communicate with us. Number three: Get
tech-savvy. What does that mean? One if you have remote hearing aids, wear them. Have
you ever tried using a remote mic? Phonak has this amazing Roger Mike and I just
plug it into my phone if I want to listen to my song or I just give it to
someone like it's a microphone and they can put it on their lapel and they can
talk into it and it zips straight to my hearing aids. It's absolutely incredible
so if you have a communicator, like for instance when I go to the store my
husband's like my main man, and I rely on him and if I don't hear something he'll
help me hear and understand it. So I can take my phone at mic and attach it
right to his mask or just have him hold it and whatever he says will zip right to
my hearing aids. There's no need to guess and check on the lips on the list it's beautiful. So two - If you
have any kind of Roger mic or Bluetooth mics on your hearing aids, be creative
about how you use them. Number three: there are various apps that you can use to get
tech savvy. One of my favorites is Otter.ai. Here's what it looks like.
Oter.ai they are amazing, so you just pull up the app and you hit start and it
records and transcribes what is being said. I am absolutely blown away with how
accurate otter.ai is it's by far one of the most accurate I've seen and I love
using it. They have 600 free minutes which is not
very much but it's still usable so you can try it out see if you like it and if
you want to use it when you go to the store then that should be enough for a
long time. So check out otter.ai. Another one is Google Live Transcribe. Here's
what it looks like. So check that one out too. Try out other transcription
apps - if it's something you like. Now, as a D/deaf and hard of hearing person
because we don't have our hearing naturally, we just have to guess and check
find out what works for you, but don't get frustrated just keep trying things,
know you're not alone. I get it. Okay number four: Tell others to talk slowly
make sure that talking slowly is talk slowly, not exaggerated or blown up or
louder it's just making sure that you gauge what's going on and this ties in
right with Number five. Number five: Make sure you repeat remarks. So if someone
says "Hey did you get the eggs?" You say, "Yes, I got the eggs." because then they know that
you heard them and you affirm that they heard you and if they say "N,o no I said
did you get the chicken legs?" Then you say "Oh yeah, I did." It just gives you
another option to hear and understand what's going on by being responsive so
make sure that you kind of restate remarks and interact with people as
you're talking to them. That will make sure that you can understand and hear
what's really being said despite everyone wearing masks because oh it's just
unprecedented times. One last thing I want add to number five is part of
restating remarks is - don't be afraid to ask people to restate their remarks for
you so if someone says like "Oh, never mind" Say "No really, I want to know
what you said." Because "Oh never mind..." it's just the worst thing. You feel like
you're out of the loop and you don't know what's going on so just say like
"I'm so sorry, I really didn't hear you, can you please repeat yourself I'd like
to know what you said." Stand up for yourself. That's what I'm saying with
that. So number five, restate remarks, that means you know, make sure you talk and
converse with people but also if you don't hear something and they say,
"Nevermind." say, "No really I'd like to know what you
said." stick up for yourself. There you have it. Do you
have other suggestions for how to survive the maskageddon? If so, I want to hear
it in comments below. Please let me know what you think. Please like and share
this. And since you stuck around til the end of the video, I'm gonna recommend a
few things that you can share with your family and friends about how they can
help you survive this maskageddon. Number one, they can wear to "seeing easy" mask.
They might feel awkward but it's actually really fun to walk around the
store and have everyone you see your smile. Number two, they can this be aware
that you may need additional help and just let them know, "Hey, if I'm struggling
to understand what's going on don't hesitate to jump in and not take over
but if the cashier is asking me, "Would you like to enter your shopper savvy number?"
say, "Oh yes." you know if my husband were doing it for me he would say "Emily, would
you like to enter this shopper savvy number?" and so he's a communicator rather
than just taking over and doing it for me because I want to be an independent woman
sometimes I just can't hear though so you gotta work together to make that
work. Another thing that your family and friends can do to help is just sharing
awareness just saying, "Hey you might be standing next to a D/deaf or hard of
hearing person at this store and might not know it. If people aren't
understanding you just be nice and calm and collected and repeat yourself or
talk slower and be an advocate for everyone during this difficult time. So
there you have it. There are five tips to survive the maskageddone and a couple
of tips to share with your friends and family so that they can help you too.
Now, don't forget, we're all in this together so please like and subscribe to
my videos so you can remember that you're not alone and share this with others so
that they can have an increased awareness of the D/deaf and
hard-of-hearing people around them so that we can make the world a more friendly
place! There you go, I hope you have a good day and I hope to hear from you
in the comments below. Have a great day everyone!