Pity the older ears: assistive technology overload!

Rough sketch: making a t-short mask, hearing aids, glasses and mask

Pity the older ears. They bear the weight of hearing aids, glasses, and masks.

This is the lament of my old ears: assistive technology overload! They’re supporting hearing, sight, and coronavirus-survival. As handles, the ears are conveniently located, but enough is enough.

  • First came glasses: cool.
  • Then hearing aids: necessary, but it’s getting crowded back there.
  • And now masks. Elastic loops get tangled in the hearing aids.
  • If a mask doesn’t fit, glasses fog up and you take them off anyway. Problem solved? Not exactly.

Guess I’ll just grin and bear it. Not that anyone will see my grin through a mask. Another happy day with assistive technology overload—gotta love it.

Make a t shirt mask (New York Times)

8 thoughts on “Pity the older ears: assistive technology overload!

  1. Sadje says:

    Yup, the ears don’t like the mask loops.

  2. Cathy Cade says:

    I’ve not actually worn my mask yet, other than to try it on (we live in the sticks and I’ve been managing to get supermarket delivery slots if I book them 2-3 weeks in advance) but I can well imagine the problem.
    My husband will find any excuse not to wear his hearing aids, but he rarely goes anywhere off the premises at the best of times (he’s quite enjoying lockdown) and masks aren’t compulsory yet in the UK, although this may change as restrictions ease.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      That all sounds entirely manageable 🙂

  3. How very strange. I was thinking of this only yesterday and considering writing a hypothesis on the parameters that were obviously used by ‘she who designed the human form’! This, after I catapulted one of my hearing aids across the room as I removed my mask!!

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      Aaagh! I knew I wasn’t the only one. Maybe we will have a new ear aesthetic after all this. Dainty little ears are useless handles.

  4. Ally Bean says:

    Made me smile. The truth will get ‘ya, won’t it?

  5. cedar51 says:

    using a cut circular strip from a t-shirt appears to the be softest way to go…but as I rarely go into crowded places since we left Level 4, think I will manage without one. As I understand it, it’s a choice we can make for ourselves at least here in New Zealand, unless we are asked to wear one.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      I’ll use masks that don’t rely on the ears for handles. when I get around to making one.

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