A Bristol-based company that makes personal protective equipment has designed and manufactured a clear face mask for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
Alexandra Workwear said it was approached by organisations in the healthcare and education sector to come up with an alternative for patients and students struggling with wearing standard face masks.
The company, which also makes scrub sets for frontline NHS staff and has manufactured more than five million masks during the pandemic, worked with a number of suppliers to create the face covering.
Nick Reynolds, purchasing and category manager at Alexandra, said: “We are pleased to now be able to supply clear face coverings because we know they will be a lifeline for the deaf community and anyone who relies on lip reading to communicate.
“As the Government continues to extend the settings where face coverings are required, we hope that this project will help deaf people and those they travel with feel safer and more confident in public places.
“We are very grateful to everyone who has worked with us to complete the design and testing process, and we will be supplying the first customers with their orders in the next few weeks.”
Clear face coverings allow lip-reading and facial expressions to be interpreted, which is a way of communicating for the 12 million UK people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Current guidelines allow anyone who is travelling with a deaf or hard-of-hearing person to remove their mask to communicate.
Ayla Ozmen, head of policy and research at charity Action on Hearing Loss, said: “Face coverings present a communication barrier that result in millions of people living with hearing loss feeling even more isolated and anxious at an already difficult time.
“Face coverings with clear panels are helpful for them because they rely heavily on visual cues for effective communication, including facial expressions and lip-reading.
“However, as we’re a long way from the widespread adoption of these face coverings, people should also be aware that if someone who is deaf or has hearing loss asks you to step back and remove your face covering to communicate with them, you wouldn’t be acting illegally in doing so.”
