The first time I had to ask the lady behind the counter to repeat what she said was awkward, the second was slightly embarrassing, the third was mortifying and by the final time she probably expected some prank show camera crew to leap out from behind me.

Welcome to life as someone with a hearing loss as we struggle to make our way through the world with one of our major helping hands – lip reading – missing.

When it was first announced that face coverings would be mandatory in shops I fully understood why but it also filled me with dread.

I am entirely deaf in one ear and rely on a hearing aid in the other – the other thing which helps me with hearing is undoubtedly lipreading.

So the prospect of trying to understand what people would be saying when they had their mouths covered was clearly something of a challenge.

There is also the side issue of trying to wear a mask myself without having one of the elasticated loops dislodging my hearing aid.

This minor hurdle was soon out of the way with the purchase of a snood which means I can keep my aid in place.

The problem of losing the ability to lip read was something else entirely.

I had first encountered this several weeks ago when I went to get tested myself for Covid-19.

Driving up to the test centre I was confronted by a man with a clipboard wearing a face mask. He said something to me which with my car window up and the facemask in place was impossible for me to decipher.

I went to wind down my window which resulted in a response which was probably not dissimilar had I threatened him with a weapon – much waving of hands instructing me that under no circumstances could my window be lowered.

Eventually an elaborate form of pointing and gesturing got me to the correct location…where I was encountered by another person in a mask and signs telling me in no uncertain terms to keep my windows closed.

I was lost. I had no idea what this person was saying and just hoped it wasn’t too important before I drove to the actual test station and underwent the test.

Now though face coverings are everywhere – in every shop I go into – and I just find myself hoping that I won’t need to have a conversation.

I found myself in an unfamiliar supermarket the other day and couldn’t find what I needed – I considered asking a member of staff and then realised I would struggle to know what they were saying so decided to leave it. It only took a few more minutes to figure it out for myself.

When I have had to ask people to repeat things they have said it is usually greeted with a chuckle, especially when it takes four goes, but occasionally it can be met with an exasperated sigh which makes you feel like you are an annoyance they could do without.

This isn’t a problem which cannot be overcome though and there have been some interesting solutions.

Some have called for people to wear masks with clear plastic “windows” over their mouths to help those who rely on lipreading.

Others have resorted to mobile phone apps which will translate speech into text which can also help.

Hearing loss is an invisible disability – although some people do wear badges or lanyards which will explain and warn people in advance.

If you do have someone asking you to repeat yourself several times please try to be patient – remember some of us rely on more than our ears to communicate.