In the first year of the pandemic, before we had vaccinations or tests, when everyone was masking, I needed to consult my ENT. But when he spoke to me through his mask I couldn’t understand him. I asked if he would consider removing his mask while I remained masked. He considered for a second, stepped back into the doorway, almost out of the room, took off his mask and raised his voice to speak to me. We were thereby able to have a productive discussion. I thanked him profusely.

Last week, more than 3 years later, I had a first visit with a physical therapist who was heavily masked. She wasn’t willing to take off her mask, but I told her I wouldn’t be able to understand her unless she spoke loudly and slowly, which she agreed to do. So we had a successful session.

Each time, if both participants had not taken an extra step to be able to work with their counterpart, the appointment would have been a waste of time. A practitioner who is inflexible about wearing a mask needs to work harder to communicate with a hearing-impaired patient, and a patient who has difficulties hearing has to be assertive about saying what they need from the practitioner, to be able to understand what they are saying.

It sounds like you did your part in communicating your needs, and it's quite striking that your doctor was so unresponsive, and rude to boot! I don’t think someone like that should be practicing medicine. A review that warns other hearing-impaired patients about this practitioner’s behavior seems appropriate to me.

I could perhaps be more sympathetic to your doctor’s caution in 2020 when we didn’t have a clue about how the disease spread. But I’m less sympathetic now. Vaccines are our first line of protection, not masks. We have home tests to indicate whether we’re infected, and we know the isolation protocols if we’ve been exposed. So, we don’t wear gloves to the grocery store anymore, right? We know the virus isn’t communicated by touch, but by breathing. But in 2020 we didn’t know that, and what seemed like appropriate protection back then would look ridiculous now.

Consequently, I find it confusing when someone puts on a mask anymore, unless they’re undergoing chemo or something, and need even the slight amount of self protection masks afford. I put on a mask plus face shield, plus gown and gloves when visiting a family member in the ICU last winter, and was totally okay with that.

What I don’t understand is someone who is vaccinated and not at risk, yet they cover their face. Are they concerned about spreading the disease? If so why don’t they test themselves before going out? Are they concerned about contracting the disease? Well, masks are not primarily for self-protection—vaccinations are. So just get vaxxed. Knowing what we know, and having the tools now available to us, I just don’t get the psychology of masking at this point. To me masking now seems rather like wearing gloves to the grocery store.