Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Personally I think the masks create a psychological barrier to communication and human empathy. If nothing else it's a PITA to talk to someone so I'm less likely to engage in discretionary conversation with strangers. Visual cues are important in our communication.
True statement. Prior to Covid, I never quite appreciated just how much I relied on lip reading to compensate for the limitations of my hearing. A lifetime of exposure to live music, gunfire, and jet noise has damaged it enough to make masked communication far more difficult and when the other person is behind a plexiglass blast shield, nigh on impossible.