Which face mask is best for communication? A new study weighs in The receptionist at the doctor’s office asks a question from behind her double mask and face guard on the opposite side of a large, plastic partition. “Excuse me, what was that again?” It’s a phrase I repeat a lot these days. Distorted by masks and myriad sound barriers, sounds in the world around me have become muffled, emerging as garbled as Marlon Brando’s infamous whispers in “The Godfather.” My hearing isn’t that bad. So if I’m struggling to understand others during the pandemic, how must it be for elderly grandparents and others with hearing loss, especially with so many people double masking?