Deaf Mom Creates Clear Masks For Lip Reading, Quickly Learns It’s Useful For People From Various Backgrounds
Face masks make it impossible for deaf people to lip-read what others are saying. Fortunately, someone came up with a solution. 42-year-old graphic designer Justine Bate from Manchester made face masks with plastic windows over the mouth to help herself and her 10-year-old daughter, Teona. Both mom and daughter are deaf. However, the masks quickly became popular when people heard about them.
Justine has been absolutely swamped with orders after she came up with the design and showed them off on social media. She was worried that Teona would have problems communicating with her friends at school if she couldn’t see how people’s lips are moving. Now, Justine’s making a lot of other people’s lives better, not just her family’s.
Her 50-year-old husband Carl, who is also her carer, wears a see-through mask, too. Justine sold 42 of her masks on May 27 alone. They cost only 5.99 pounds (and that even includes packaging and postage). According to Carl, they can’t make the masks fast enough!
Justine Bate designed face masks with plastic windows over the mouth to help deaf people lip read what others are saying
Image credits: Justine DB
Image credits: SWNS
Her masks became very popular and she’s been flooded with requests ever since
Image credits: SWNS
She and her husband, Carl, have been busy making the masks nonstop
Image credits: SWNS
Image credits: SWNS
The masks cost only 5.99 pounds each (and that includes everything, including postage and packaging)
Image credits: Justine DB
Image credits: Justine DB
Image credits: Justine DB
Image credits: Justine DB
Justine initially made the masks to help her 10-year-old daughter who is also deaf
Image credits: Justine DB
It’s not just deaf people who want to get their hands on one of Justine’s masks. The family’s getting a lot of orders for people with dementia and children with certain types of autism who are scared of folks who walk around with full face masks on.
“It was not to do with making money, it was to do with doing something for our daughter for making her life easier,” Justine’s husband Carl told SWNS. “It’s been so overwhelming. She’s a bit apprehensive but she’s been honest with people that it’s not PPE quality as there is no filter.”
Carl pointed out that the deaf community can be a tough place to socialize; the see-through masks help bring deaf people together. “The amount of people who have come up to her and asked for these masks is quite overwhelming. She’s loving the fact that she’s helping others make a better quality of life in this situation,” he said.
He also stressed that they can’t put a filter in the masks because of the clear plastic: “You are defeating the object of the plastic.”
It took the family around 4 days of testing out different styles before they got their final mask design right. “It wasn’t easy. I had my ways of doing it and she’s got her way—but her way was the best way.”
People loved Justine’s design and complimented her
Deaf mom watches the news and takes the idea from a deaf college student. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/this-college-student-is-sewing-face-masks-designed-for-the-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-community/
They were also talking about this on the BBC news in England.
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Good idea. I'm only worried it gets fogged up and then you can't see through it anymore (and you get less air through it too)
Saw a video of a doctor using dry soap on his glasses. Maybe this method can be used on these too.
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It works if you're wearing a mask only to comply with the rules, but not for protection. Sorry to put this idea down, but a mask must be properly fitted, with no gaps, sewing stitches (especially around the nose) lets the virus go through, the material itself must filter the air, therefore one must breathe through the material, not the gaps. Unfortunately, this mask is not properly fitted (visible gaps around the nose) and if it would be, it'd make it very hard to breathe through as most of it is air-proof plastic. Also, lots of stitching and it will fog up. Looking forward to see (semi)clear PPE-grade filter material that could actually be used for protective masks.
These serve the same purpose as cloth masks -- to keep the wearer from spreading the virus through their nose or mouth. No masks worn by the general public protect the wearer much, nor are they intended to.
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We just received these a couple of days ago for use at the hospital where I work.
Working in the hospital. The only joy of wearing these masks is that you dont have to smile /or use "appropriate" facial expressions all the time.
That's your problem functioning in society? To smile every now and then...? Well. Your eyes will show if empathy is required and not perceived.
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This should also be used in schools, especially in preschool and for ESL students who need teacher modeling to help develop language
I wish there are more masks like these on the market, I miss some of my coworkers smiles.
I do wonder though, how they deal with the fogging up problem. I wonder if those anti-fog sprays you can get for glasses would work on the plastic part. I also wonder if a smaller "window" might make it easier to breathe (i.e., more cloth, less plastic.)
As Speech Language Pathologists, this is what we're wearing in therapy too!
Deaf mom watches the news and takes the idea from a deaf college student. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/this-college-student-is-sewing-face-masks-designed-for-the-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-community/
They were also talking about this on the BBC news in England.
Load More Replies... Good idea. I'm only worried it gets fogged up and then you can't see through it anymore (and you get less air through it too)
Saw a video of a doctor using dry soap on his glasses. Maybe this method can be used on these too.
Load More Replies... It works if you're wearing a mask only to comply with the rules, but not for protection. Sorry to put this idea down, but a mask must be properly fitted, with no gaps, sewing stitches (especially around the nose) lets the virus go through, the material itself must filter the air, therefore one must breathe through the material, not the gaps. Unfortunately, this mask is not properly fitted (visible gaps around the nose) and if it would be, it'd make it very hard to breathe through as most of it is air-proof plastic. Also, lots of stitching and it will fog up. Looking forward to see (semi)clear PPE-grade filter material that could actually be used for protective masks.
These serve the same purpose as cloth masks -- to keep the wearer from spreading the virus through their nose or mouth. No masks worn by the general public protect the wearer much, nor are they intended to.
Load More Replies... We just received these a couple of days ago for use at the hospital where I work.
Working in the hospital. The only joy of wearing these masks is that you dont have to smile /or use "appropriate" facial expressions all the time.
That's your problem functioning in society? To smile every now and then...? Well. Your eyes will show if empathy is required and not perceived.
Load More Replies... This should also be used in schools, especially in preschool and for ESL students who need teacher modeling to help develop language
I wish there are more masks like these on the market, I miss some of my coworkers smiles.
I do wonder though, how they deal with the fogging up problem. I wonder if those anti-fog sprays you can get for glasses would work on the plastic part. I also wonder if a smaller "window" might make it easier to breathe (i.e., more cloth, less plastic.)
As Speech Language Pathologists, this is what we're wearing in therapy too!
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