When Dean Martin of Ware, Mass., was hospitalized with COVID-19 in April, the experience was even more isolating for him than it is for many other patients. Martin is deaf, and it was hard for him to understand the medical staff.

“The doctor would come up to me in multiple layers of masks and coverings and PPE, but I was only able to really see his eyes,” Martin said through an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. “And he would keep talking, and I tried to encourage him, give him a pen and paper, and he’d write a short note, and give it to me.”

Sometimes the doctors would use a device called a video remote interpreter, so Martin could see in sign language what they were telling him. But for the most part, he was alone. When he was able to go home after about two weeks, Martin said it was a relief to have his wife, who is also deaf, taking care of him.

“Just being able to ask, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ and be able to sign that to me and have that communication” was important, he said.

For people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, the communication challenges caused by this pandemic aren’t just in hospitals. Masks have become a ubiquitous and essential part of our daily life, but also pose a serious obstacle for those who have partial or no hearing. Between 15 and 20 percent of American adults are estimated to have some level of hearing loss.

Boston University Deaf Studies Professor Andrew Bottoms experienced the obstacle posed by masks at a Trader Joe’s market recently. He remembers trying to explain to a mask-wearing cashier through gestures that he's deaf. But the cashier just looked at him.

"And I just decided to take out my phone,” he said through an ASL interpreter. “And I typed to this individual and I said, 'Jeez, I'm sorry. I can't understand what it is that you're saying, the mask is blocking your face. Could you get a pen and pencil? I'm missing it. I'm deaf.' And the cashier responded and said, 'I haven't said anything to you yet.'"

Too often, Bottoms said, hearing people get impatient and frustrated when they're not being understood.

"People get mad at us," he said.

But since masks are making conversation a little harder for all of us, Bottoms said he thinks hearing people are beginning to appreciate the particular challenge masks pose to deaf people.

"I've seen an increase in effort,” he said. “People are trying."

Masks are also a barrier when deaf people converse with each other. The grammar of American Sign Language doesn't just happen with hands. Much of it is communicated with facial expressions.

"We really depend on being able to see those faces," said Stephanie Hakulin, president of the Massachusetts State Association for the Deaf, speaking through an ASL interpreter. Hakulin is a deaf interpreter, including for patients in doctor's offices. She said that work is harder now.

"Everyone has a mask on,” she said. “The doctor, the patient, me as the interpreter. And so there's then no effect being shown on the face. And it's lots of, 'What's going on?'"

That kind of confusion is also happening in some classrooms these days.

In Boston Public Schools, just over 100 enrolled students are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Martha O'Brien is a teacher at Horace Mann School for the Deaf, a K-12 school in the city. Some of her students are attending class remotely, which she said isn’t ideal.

"American Sign Language is a 3D language,” O'Brien said through an ASL interpreter. "So when you're going through video, it becomes 2D."

Some of the language, she said, is obscured. Also, O'Brien does have some students in her classroom, so she needs to wear a mask.

"So I can see some students are really becoming confused and I find myself repeating and clarifying often," she said.

The Horace Mann school just got a donation of clear masks from the Lyric Opera, which commissioned its costume designer to make them for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. O'Brien said she's hopeful those will help.

In general, though, clear masks get mixed reviews. Some of them are uncomfortable or can fog up.

For Vassar College sophomore Sophia Corwin, clear masks are really helpful. The Northampton native has worn hearing aids since she was 3 months old, and she relies on lip reading. Most of Corwin's college classes are online, but she does have one in-person class.

"And actually everyone in my class is putting on a clear mask for me so that I can read their lips while they're talking," she said.

Corwin said her classmates have taken it in stride, and it's allowed her to really be a full participant in discussions. That's the kind of spirit she’d like to see everywhere. Her message for anyone who is hearing — a message that was echoed by everyone interviewed for the story — is simple.

"Just be kind and respectful,” she said. “And if someone asks you to repeat what you're saying, not to get frustrated and just try to make sure that people can understand what you're saying."

That's good advice right now, no matter who you’re communicating with.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated when Corwin began wearing hearing aids.