Wear your mask, but think about deaf students

Olivier Pourret (1, 2) , Elodie Saillet (1)

1 UniLaSalle
2 AGHYLE - Agro-écologie, Hydrogéochimie, Milieux et Ressources

Masks are vital to contain the spread of coronavirus, but lecturers and universities must find ways to be inclusive, say Olivier Pourret and Elodie Saillet We are a married pair of associate professors-one a geochemist and the other a structural geologist-living in France. One of our three children is deaf. Both of us will soon be teaching in lecture theatres, and wearing masks in line with French regulations. We support this policy, but we also know how difficult our son would find our lectures, if he were there. Our son, like many deaf people, is a talented lip reader. What he can't pick up aurally, from what's sometimes called 'residual hearing', he regularly picks up from reading lips. Most masks prevent this mode of understanding among deaf students, who already work very hard to participate and learn in lecture theatres and in schools. Experts estimate that only about 30-40% of spoken English-and French, our first language-is distinguishable to a talented lip reader in favourable circumstances. Most people with hearing impairments can and do speak using their natural speech organs, which they have learned to use through speech therapy. But many cannot track or automatically adjust the tone and volume of their voice, so their voice can initially be difficult for people to understand. Awareness grows as one becomes more familiar with the deaf student's speech pattern. By taking simple action, the scientific community can help deaf students. A few years ago, a deaf student asked us to wear a microphone to amplify and clarify our voices. We have also

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

Olivier Pourret, Elodie Saillet. Wear your mask, but think about deaf students. Nature, 2020, 586 (7830), pp.629-630. ⟨10.1038/d41586-020-02823-2⟩. ⟨hal-02977774⟩