{"id":9569,"date":"2021-02-18T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plainenglish.com\/?post_type=lessons&p=9569"},"modified":"2024-03-18T14:44:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:44:10","slug":"face-masks-and-communication","status":"publish","type":"lessons","link":"https:\/\/plainenglish.com\/lessons\/face-masks-and-communication\/","title":{"rendered":"What did you say? Tips for communicating effectively while wearing a face mask"},"content":{"rendered":"
One unexpected side effect of wearing a face mask: it can be hard to read facial expressions<\/p>\n
Hi there everyone, it\u2019s Jeff, and thanks for joining us for another Plain English lesson. I do sincerely appreciate that you choose to spend a part of your week listening to me in English, I think that\u2019s really great. JR is the producer and he has posted the full lesson online at PlainEnglish.com\/339.<\/p>\n
Coming up today: Face masks are essential for public health during these times of coronavirus. But they can make communication difficult\u2014and not just because it\u2019s hard to hear someone talking with a mask on. They block our facial expressions. So on today\u2019s lesson, we\u2019ll talk about how we communicate with our faces\u2014and how we can compensate for having half our faces covered up. The expression is \u201cget away with\u201d and JR has a song of the week.<\/p>\n
Wearing cloth or paper face masks is now the norm in dozens of countries around the world: it\u2019s essential to stop the spread of the coronavirus. For many of us, and I\u2019ll count myself in that, it\u2019s our first time wearing a protective face mask in public. The physical sensation of wearing a mask was strange at first, but most people can get used to that in just a few weeks. The harder adjustment, though, is interpersonal relationships. Wearing a mask can make it hard to connect with other people\u2014colleagues, good friends, and even strangers.<\/p>\n
A mask presents two principal barriers to communication: first, it\u2019s harder to understand someone\u2019s voice clearly; and second, it\u2019s much more difficult to read facial expressions.<\/p>\n
Voices come out muffled, so speakers strain to be heard and listeners strain to understand. That usually means that speakers talk louder than normal, and their words lose some of the intonation that conveys meaning. Speech is full of meaning. The most direct form of meaning comes through words, but people communicate emotions through intonation, too. Intonation can turn a genuine sentence sarcastic; it can add empathy or surprise; it can warn another person to be careful: in short, intonation can increase the power of our words. The trouble is, it\u2019s harder to add the right emotion to your voice when you\u2019re speaking loudly: just try expressing empathy or understanding at a high volume. It\u2019s almost impossible.<\/p>\n
Individuals with hearing problems read lips and facial expressions more than others. About five percent of the world\u2019s population suffers from hearing loss. Reading lips and facial expressions also helps when understanding conversation in a second language. <\/p>\n
Even more than our voices, our faces tell a rich story. Scientists say that humans are the only animals that rely heavily on<\/a> facial expressions to communicate. In fact, people place more reliance on what they see rather than in what they hear.<\/p>\n One study found that when there\u2019s a difference in meaning between the words that are spoken and the facial expressions of the speaker, people believe the facial expressions and not the words. Facial expressions are harder to fake.<\/p>\n Take your smile, for example. I don\u2019t know about you, but I cannot fake a smile. I\u2019ve given up trying: it just doesn\u2019t look good. If you catch me smiling, then you know the emotion is real. And the emotion behind a smile isn\u2019t just happiness. Studies have shown that there are 19 different types of smiles. A smile is most often associated with happiness, but only six of the 19 types of smiles convey forms of happiness. Others convey fear, embarrassment, pain, skepticism, disbelief, and other emotions.<\/p>\n But face masks obscure so much of this communication, and they can have detrimental side effects. Effectively reading a smile or other facial expression helps humans know whom to trust. It stands to reason, then, that if we can\u2019t read facial expressions, it\u2019s harder to build trust with strangers. Superficial or transactional interactions are probably unaffected. Being masked as you shop for groceries or get a haircut is inconvenient, but probably doesn\u2019t have much effect on the outcome. However, other interactions are more important.<\/p>\n For example, a 2013 study sought to measure whether patients perceived doctors differently if those doctors wore protective face masks when speaking. The result? Patients had less trust in doctors that wore face masks. That\u2019s because sincerity, trustworthiness and good intentions are communicated non-verbally.<\/p>\n So if we know that face masks are blocking more than just our germs, is there anything we can do to compensate for this barrier to communication?<\/p>\n Here are a few tips for communicating while wearing a mask. Some of these, by the way, come from women who wear face coverings in public for religious reasons\u2014they\u2019re already a step ahead of the rest of us.<\/p>\n First, pay close attention to your voice. Make sure you\u2019re speaking loud enough, and try to accentuate the words you want to emphasize, even more than you would normally do. It can sometimes feel uncomfortable to purposely speak with more vocal inflection than you\u2019re used to. But you can probably get away with<\/a> much more vocal inflection than you think you can. <\/p>\n