Experts urge review of masks in four weeks amid fears students can’t hear

Sydney Morning Herald Interview, February 1, 2022, By Jordan Baker

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald

Nathaniel Swain, a teacher and speech pathologist, said he struggled to hear quieter students when they wore masks. “Quieter kids will also tend to hide behind the mask and not want to speak up and find it difficult and muffled,” he said.

“Students with [English as second language] backgrounds are not as expressive as they might have been without the masks on.” Some struggle to understand. “They need to see the face and the mouth and piece that together with the acoustic information,” he said.