It is an authorization, which Rodolphe Harris will be able to take full advantage of. Since Wednesday February 2, the government has put an end to certain restrictions linked to Covid-19 and in particular that of wearing a mask outside. If he admits having got used like everyone else to this piece of fabric around his mouth, the constraint is strong for this 51-year-old actor who suffers from deafness. “The deaf and hard of hearing, we are already isolated from society but it’s even worse with the mask”, he regrets.
>> Covid-19: what is the impact for babies of the generalized wearing of masks?
Since 2010, in addition to his work as a lighting designer, Rodolphe Harris has multiplied the filming of commercials, series and films. A way to stop thinking about his deafness, which suddenly arrived at the age of 7. “When I play, I forget that I am deaf”, he confides. Despite his hearing aid, the mask represents an obstacle in his understanding with others. “We all work with the mask on the shoots, and sometimes I get lost a little, says the actor. The mask hinders communication, I feel even more isolated than before.”
In his office in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, speech therapist Benjamin Martin-Lacan repeats sentences to Rodolphe Harris. The intonations change, the goal is to understand if it is a question or a statement. From “hairdresser is there?” at the “hairdresser is there”, the tone is different and the mask sometimes comes to cover the nuances. “Redoing the puzzle is very tiring, concedes Rodolphe. I learned to get used to it but there is a moment when I am tired. For people with a hearing impairment, this fatigue comes mainly from the impossibility of reading lips. A so-called lip reading that everyone uses, explains Benjamin Martin-Lacan, speech therapist at Rodolphe: “Even when you have good hearing, in a lot of situations, you’re going to use that lip reading a lot.”
“If there is an important sound environment like in a restaurant or in the street, seeing the lips allows you to understand better. You don’t necessarily realize it when you have normal hearing.”
Benjamin Martin Lacanat franceinfo
It is ultimately a whole understanding of so-called non-verbal language that the mask prevents. “We are going to hide half of the face, and the mouth can be a real vector of understanding, whether through lip reading, but also emotions, explains Élodie Pascual, vice-president of the National Federation of speech therapists in charge of communication. So, it’s true that if you have an interlocutor who will have glasses, a wick and the mask, you will have more difficulty understanding him.
In her office in Esnandes, near La Rochelle, Élodie Pascual tries to keep the mask as much as possible. “Even if ohdon’t really have a nose in people’s mouths”, describes the speech therapist. The solution of transparent masks with the fog that appears on the visor may seem quite limited. For the speech therapist, the danger for patients also lies in confinement linked to the lack of communication. “When we don’t understand them well, they tend to be a little embarrassed, she explains. They don’t dare make people repeat when they haven’t understood. So they’re going to have a kind of renunciation of communication.”
There is no solid study yet that shows that the mask has consequences on language learning or effects on people who have already had language problems, underlines Élodie Pascual. The speech therapist is however worried about a “Matthew effect”. A formula that comes from the name of the apostle and his sentence: “To him who has, much will be given and he will live in abundance, but to him who has nothing, everything will be taken, even what he had.”
“It’s the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, summarizes the speech therapist. Finally, those who have no difficulties will be able to get by with or without a mask, but those who already have a weakness, the mask will not fix their difficulties.
Rodolphe Harris sometimes recognizes it “instead of making people repeat, I say ‘yes’.” His speech therapist Benjamin Martin-Lacan believes that “its adaptation to the mask is limited. He must not hesitate to say that he does not understand and to go to the person and tell him so. It is up to others to adapt and repeat or remove the mask.”
A piece of advice the actor took: “I say I have a little bonus that I’m deaf and need to see lips.” For Élodie Pascual, fighting against this confinement is a priority: “You have to try to find communication situations to force yourself a little bit to continue talking.” From the phone call to a member of his family to the exchange with the local merchant, for the speech therapist any discussion is important.