Being a deaf student in a face mask world: Survey data from Italian university students

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities made face masks mandatory during face-to-face classes and/or switched to virtual classes. Such situations pose a challenge for students with hearing loss as they generate listening conditions that make speech comprehension difficult. This study aimed to explore the listening difficulties perceived by Italian university students with hearing loss (HL) and typical hearing (TH) as well as their adoption of self-advocacy strategies. We measured listening difficulties as a function of teaching modality (face-to-face and virtual classes) and the type of face mask (opaque and transparent) worn by the lecturer. In face-to-face classes, the most challenging situations for HL students involved speech comprehension when groups of students were working simultaneously and lecturers talked and moved at the same time during their lessons. The use of transparent masks, compared to opaque one, by the lecturer did not reduce the perceived listening difficulties. In virtual classes, the greatest listening difficulties for HL students occurred when the lecturer's face was not visible or she/he did not use a microphone, while subtitles and sign language interpreters were speech comprehension facilitators. The TH group perceived the same situations as most challenging both in face-to-face and virtual classes, albeit to a lesser extent than the HL respondents. Despite most students demonstrated proactive self-advocacy strategies to improve speech comprehension, in some listening contexts inactive behaviors still persisted. To reduce the listening difficulties posed by pandemic measures, training to improve students’ self-advocacy strategies and educators’ hearing loss awareness behaviors, as well as the development of interventions aimed at reducing noise in classes, are essential to improve speech perception among HL students.