HALIFAX -- Like countless others, Diane Drake is still working from home these days, although she misses the office routine and her co-workers.

Deaf since the age of 23, what she doesn't miss is the new reality when she visits a store or restaurant.

"It would be best if the business had two kinds of masks," Drake says. "I tell them, 'I'm deaf and I can't lip-read you,' so, I try to get them to pull it down, and some refuse."

With the country now reopening, masks have become standard issue.

They're inconvenient -- and perhaps a bit uncomfortable -- for most of us, but much more so for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, who suddenly find themselves shut out from what were everyday interactions.

"For many deaf and hard-of-hearing people, the daily stresses relating to the access and communication barriers that they face are compounded by masks," says Frank O'Sullivan, the executive director of the Society of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Nova Scotians. "National and provincial deaf and hard-of-hearing organizations are working to educate the public regarding the barriers masks can pose for their members and are promoting the use of clear masks and face shields."

The group represents the approximately 58,000 Nova Scotians who are considered deaf, late-deafened or hard-of-hearing.

Business groups say there's not much they can do when masks are largely recommended by public health, but there probably is a better way.

"We prefer the two metres of physical distancing, because it allows for the ability for people to interact in a business environment," says Jim Cormier, the Atlantic Director of the Retail Council of Canada.

That includes cultural and religious differences, where someone might not be comfortable wearing a mask.

In the meantime, Cormier notes retailers are doing their best to serve all customers during these unprecedented times.

"I understand the procedures, the rules they have for COVID, but I'd like to see it better for the deaf community, or deaf and blind, or hard-of-hearing," said Drake. "We rely on the lips."

So, as she copes with a silent side effect of the pandemic, Drake hopes retail and restaurant workers will at least consider donning a face shield when she and others pay a visit. She says the arrival of COVID was pretty stressful for her; it was an infection from a common flu that cost her her hearing about 36 years ago.