Demers was diagnosed with hearing loss when he was 4 years old. As a kid, he saw nothing funny about it — but then he learned to make people laugh. He just dropped his fourth stand-up special.

In Georgia, deaf people and people who are hard of hearing struggled with news accessibility and communication since the pandemic began.

Some 10% of the population is hard of hearing. The government is helping companies cover costs of making see-through masks. "It's a protection, but it's also a communication tool," says an official.