A new mask suitable for people with more or less severe deafness problems to deal with the coronavirus. Surprising how sometimes it is enough to make small changes to have a great result. The idea comes from an American student from Kentucky, Ashley Lawrence. "I modified the model to be adapted to those who read lips or who, when communicating with sign language, rely on facial expressions to understand meanings and intentions - Ashley continues - facial expressions are part of the grammar of sign language, as is the labial. You lose information if you can't see the face. "
A surgical mask, modified according to need. This is the mask used daily by all citizens who should wear the infected so as not to infect others and who do not ensure that the healthy do not get infected. But, of course, as the WHO points out, it is always better to wear it to protect ourselves despite not having an adequate percentage of defense.
The modified mask
Intuition is combined with a simple and practical modification. The mask created by the student requires that the part that affects the mouth is covered with a transparent membrane. This allows you to observe the mouth to read the lip, or, in the case of hearing impaired people, to listen to the message more easily. The student came up with the idea during a simple scroll on social media. His friends showed how to make DIY masks. “Masks of this type already exist - explains the 21-year-old on the web - they are made with the fabric used for surgical masks, but just like normal protections, these too have become difficult to find today ».
Distribution through funds
To continue making homemade masks, the student needs new funds. Ashley and her mother, with the help of a sewing machine, used materials available in the house such as new sheets and rolls of plastic until they ran out.
But now they need contributions to continue their big little one solidarity project. For this they created a fundraiser on the GoFundMe platform to finance the project. They ask for support from web users to carry out the distribution. A sum of over three thousand dollars: this is the result given by the campaign launched from March 31 to April 2. The United States will take advantage of the masks, currently the country that is experiencing the greatest difficulties in terms of infected people according to statistics. But the request goes beyond that. Dozens of orders were registered in less than two days from Italy along with six other states.
# Italian in the heart