Indonesians turn to clear virus masks for the deaf

See-through solution: Faizah and her husband Imama Saroso showing the homemade face masks which enable people with disabilities like them to read lips when communicating, in Makassar, South Sulawesi. — AFP

Lip-reading suddenly got tricky when everyone covered their face during the coronavirus pandemic, but Indonesian tailors have hit upon the perfect solution – see-through masks.

One husband and wife duo in Makassar on Sulawesi island started producing cloth masks with transparent plastic in the middle to help fellow deaf people.

“Since the pandemic started, everyone is wearing face masks. For deaf people, we can’t understand what others are saying because we can’t read their lips, ” said 52-year-old Faizah Badaruddin.

“There were a lot of misunderstandings, ” she added.

Faizah and her husband used to sew cushions, bed sheets and curtains for customers.

But when orders dried up, Faizah looked up instructional videos online to work out how to produce masks for the hearing impaired.

Since early April, the little business has been producing as many as two dozen transparent masks a day in small, medium and large sizes.

They sell for between 10,000 rupiah and 15,000 rupiah (RM2.80 and RM4.20) each. — AFP