#36: Navigating Miscommunication
This person spent most of their life thinking that their hearing was totally fine. Then, a few years ago, everyone started wearing masks. It was then that they started noticing their hearing going downhill. Why was their hearing so much worse now that they couldn’t see anyone’s mouth when speaking?
You’ve probably already guessed what’s going on here. This person had a hearing difficulty, and they never realized it. Their brain had compensated by reading lips. It came so naturally to this person that they never realized it was because they were hard of hearing. Their hearing never “got worse” because it was always the same. The masks just took away the manner in which their brain made up for it.