MONTREAL -- Quebec's deaf community is celebrating the arrival of the first mask with a transparent window over the mouth that meets Health Canada requiremements.

“It's a great victory,” said Audition Quebec president Jeanne Choquette.

Choquette said the province's mask mandate, which was first implemented in July, created “a lot of distress” among the hearing impaired.

“We read lips. We need to see the mouth,” she said.

Choquette said the single-use Humask-Pro Vision was “eagerly awaited” in the health, education and early childhood centre networks.

The mask, which is manufactured in the Quebec town of Louiseville, will be 15 to 20 per cent more expensive than comparable masks, according to Luc Girard, a partner at Entreprise Premont.

The manufacturer plans to produce a few million units per week once production is fully automated, which should happen by January.

The company also produces 5 million standard surgical masks each week.

Entreprise Premont originally specialized in manufacturing air filters but transitioned to masks when the province experienced a shortage at the start of the pandemic.

The Quebec Association for Children with Hearing Impairments estimates that more than 70 per cent of students with deafness rely on lip reading.

“They absolutely need to see the mouth to be able to complete the sound signals they are perceiving, in order to understand what they are being told,” said association general manager Claire Moussel.

She called the new masks a game changer for the community.

“It was complicated to raise awareness without having a solution that was ready and available,” she said.

Girard said manufacturing a mask that meets Health Canada's standard was a challenge.

“I thought I would do this in less than five weeks and it took almost four months to achieve the goal,” he said.

The “welds” where the clear window is inserted proved to be particularly vulnerable. Dany Charest, general manager of TechniTexile Quebec said the standard requires demonstrating the seams are waterproof and materials are “capable of withstanding splashes caused by projections.”

Girard explained he had his own incentive for perfecting the mask: one of his children has had a hearing impairment since birth.

“I put a lot of energy, time and money into achieving this result,” he said, estimating the company had spent $1.8 million on the project to date.

But now that the mask has proven reliable, Girard said the phone hasn't stopped ringing as governments, distributors, childcare centres and other organizations around Quebec and the world have been placing orders.