Forest Hills Sisters Help Local Biz Reach The Hearing-Impaired

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — As wearing a mask in public becomes standard practice, people who live with hearing loss are cut off from the facial cues that help them understand those around them. Now, three Forest Hills sisters are working to reopen the lines of communication in their neighborhood.

Kate, Sarah and Julia Lin are making see-through face masks and custom message boards for local businesses to more easily communicate with customers who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The sisters started the initiative in July as their Girl Scouts "take action" project and have since distributed 70 masks and 30 message boards to such businesses as Trader Joe's, Aigner Chocolates and Kweller Prep.

The Lin sisters took inspiration from their mother, Annie Siu-Lin, who has hearing loss and has struggled to understand others during the pandemic and the emergence of the face mask.

Individuals with hearing loss often rely on facial expressions and lip reading to interpret what others are telling them, which makes the masks integral to the fight against COVID-19 also a communication barrier for roughly 208,000 New York City residents who identify as deaf or hard of hearing.

"A lot of people aren't aware of the difficulty and isolation that the deaf and hard-of-hearing community are facing during the pandemic due to the use of face masks," Kate said.

Sarah said part of their mission is to provide businesses with information on how to train employees to communicate with customers who are deaf or hard of hearing.

"Writing down what you are saying helps a lot when someone can't hear you, but many places don't do that," Sarah said. "This isn't because businesses don't want to, but because they aren't aware of how much it helps."

At the Trader Joe's supermarket in Forest Hills, the sisters' work has already made a difference. There are now message boards at every register, and staffers wear clear-paneled masks that show their facial expressions.

Store manager Carol Wrenn told the sisters that customers with hearing loss have since complimented workers on the new measures, according to their mother's retelling.

The sisters' goal is to make every Forest Hills business accessible to the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. To that end, Maspeth Federal Savings Bank last week donated $250 to help cover the cost of the sisters' supplies.

After that, they hope to bring the initiative to communities beyond their own.