A Qualitative Study on the Communication Experience of Hearing Impairment Listeners through COVID-19 Pandemic: Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

The COVID-19 Pandemic has begun. Quarantine guidelines called “social distancing” were implemented, and many changes occurred in people's daily lives. Hearing-impaired listeners, who communicated daily wearing hearing aids or cochlear implants, faced new obstacles, such as sudden changes in communication methods and wearing masks. This study attempted to discover their way of communication by conducting an in-depth interview with seven hearing-impaired people in their 20s and 40s who suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Results revealed that three main themes were emerged: 'communication experience,' 'COVID-19 pandemic and communication', and 'communication and the quality of life of the hearing-impaired people.' The 'communication experience' was divided into three communication methods: face-to-face, text, and video conversation(video call). 'COVID-19 Pandemic and communication' describes the communication experience of wearing masks and their right to live threatened in the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, in 'Communication and Quality of Life of the hearing-impaired people,' we looked at their QoL experiences, whose communication difficulties were increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wearing a mask increases communication difficulty physically and psychologically, putting their obstacles and limitations in a more difficult position.