Concept:
While I worked on my prosthetic for this assignment, I also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to create something that could have real world applications with our current battle against Covid-19. However I wanted to focus on making it for the deaf and hard of hearing. While they too need to be able to use a mask, mouth morphemes are a crucial part of communication in their community. Mouth Morphemes also recognized as mouth movement or mouthing are part of non-manual grammar in sign language. When a mouth morpheme is used, it conveys an adjective, adverb, or another descriptive meaning in association with an ASL word. For example, the ASL word for NOT-YET requires a mouth morpheme (TH), which uses a slightly open mouth showing the tongue covering the lower teeth. Without the use of mouth morphemes, there are several words and phrases in ASL that will have a completely separate meaning if the mouth morpheme that goes with it can't be seen. By building a window into the mask, they would be able to be protected from the airborne pathogens of Covid-19 and not lose important pieces of conversation in the process.
Process:
For this project I used several different Rhino methods including, blend surface, patch, split, trim, surface from 2,3, or 4 edges, and offset surface for my massing model.
I wanted this mask to be comfortable to wear, and conducive for use in clear communication of morphemes in ASL. I made a soft rubber like material for the straps. For the mask itself, I created my own version of an N95 approved material that had a translucent plastic shell built into it. For the replaceable filter shells I used a hard plastic.
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