Face coverings keep us safe but present a barrier to communication.
Merri Rosen, Ph.D., director of NEOMED’s Hearing Research Group, recently told Jeff St. Clair of WKSU, "The loss of smiles is not a minor loss, it's actually a very substantial loss."
On the same show, Julia Jones Huyck, director of the speech pathology and audiology program at Kent State University, offered six tips for effective face covering communication:
- Maintain eye contact. (Really look at people when you talk to them.)
- Signal your intentions. (Get someone’s attention by saying their name or gesturing to them.)
- Don’t yell. (It's a form of speech distortion.)
- Try to avoid noisy environments.
- Practice communication repairs. (Rephrase what you said when something was missed, and if you’re the one who missed the information, be really specific about what was missed.)
- Most of all, be patient with each other.
Read or listen to Dr. Rosen and Jeff St. Clair’s conversation on WKSU.