Speech Reading (Lip Reading): What We Should All Know and How to Help Facilitate
by Gil Kaminski
Reviewed by Tova Most, Ph.D. , Michal Luntz, M.D. , and Kathryn D. Girardin, Au.D.
on June 19th, 2023
When it comes to understanding spoken language without relying solely on the sounds we hear, two terms often come into play: lip reading and speech reading . These two terms are often used interchangeably, with 'lip reading' being more commonly used in everyday language. However, the term 'lip reading' can be misleading as it suggests understanding speech by solely observing the movements of the speaker's mouth. However, there is much more to speech reading than merely watching one’s lips move. Exploring this in greater depth can lead to enhanced communication and more inclusive interactions.
In this article
What are auditory cues.
What is Speech Reading?
How Can We All Contribute to Creating an Environment Accessible for Speech Reading ?
Auditory cues are the sounds we hear that provide us with information about the spoken message. For example, when you're having a conversation with a friend, the words they say, the tone and volume of their voice, and the speed at which they're talking are all auditory cues. These cues help you understand what your friend is saying and how they're feeling.
When you have hearing loss, auditory cues become less clear. This can make it harder to understand what someone is saying or how they're feeling. For example, you might not be able to hear the words they're saying clearly, or you might miss out on changes in their tone of voice that could tell you about their emotions. That's why people with hearing loss often rely on visual strategies, such as speech reading (lip reading), to fill in the missing auditory information.
What is Speech Reading (Lip Reading)?
Speech reading, is a comprehensive term that involves understanding speech by observing the movements of the speaker's mouth and face, nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, and body language. Regardless of hearing levels, speech reading provides additional information for processing speech. As hearing levels decline this strategy becomes incredibly important.
Speech reading takes into account the overall behavior of the speaker. It allows the reader to pick up on emotions, intentions, and other subtle clues that can help them better understand speech and enhance communication. It serves as a building block for understanding speech in situations where auditory cues, are insufficient or unavailable.
How Can We All Contribute to Creating an Environment Accessible for Speech Reading?
A first step we can practice in our daily life to create an inclusive and accessible communication environment is to be thoughtful about making it easy for others to speech read us. Some of the first things we can do include ensuring the speaker's mouth is visible and well-lit, not covering our mouths as we speak, and articulating our words clearly but not in an exaggerated way. It's also beneficial to maintain eye contact and use expressive body language to provide additional context. For example, if you work at a storefront, make sure people who need your assistance can see your face. Something as simple as that can make a world of difference and ease communication for everyone, especially for people with hearing loss.
Photo credits
Three Lips In A Row by Marija Vukovic from NounProject.com
- Communication
- Speech Reading
- Lip Reading
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A beginner’s guide to lipreading
What is lip reading.
Lip reading allows you to “listen” to a speaker by watching the speaker’s face to figure out their speech patterns, movements, gestures and expressions. Often called “a third ear,” lip reading goes beyond simply reading the lips of a speaker to decipher individual words.
Learning to lip read involves developing and practicing certain skills that can make the process much easier and more effective. These include:
•Learning to use the cues provided by the movements of the speaker’s mouth, teeth and tongue
•Reading and evaluating the information provided by facial expressions, body language and gestures in conjunction with the words being said
•Using vision to assist with listening
•Using prior knowledge to fill in the gaps that can occur in understanding since it is impossible to read every word said.
Interestingly, it is easier to read longer words and whole sentences than shorter words.
Interesting Facts about Lip Reading
•It is easier to lip read in a quiet environment without too many distractions.
•Some people mumble or have difficulties speaking, therefore they are practically impossible to read. However, most people are much easier to read.
•Because lip reading depends on visual cues, lip readers must have good eyesight.
•Lip readers need clear light since it is impossible to lip read in the dark.
•Lip reading is much easier when it involves the lip reader’s first language. For example, an English speaker will find it much easier to lip read English than to lip read Spanish.
•Some of the shapes made by the lips when speaking look very similar, for example “th” and “f”, making them harder to decipher. This is why picking up subtle facial cues is so important.
Lip reading can become second nature for many lip readers. Even as you are learning to lip read, your understanding improves since you become more aware of the other cues needed to be successful with any type of communication.
Benefits of Lip Reading
•People often describe the feeling of learning to lip read as the world opening up again since they are able to communicate better. This ability to understand what is being said helps to build confidence and develop social and communication skills. Being unable to understand what is being said can lead to a sense of frustration and isolation. Communication is part of human contact and is essential for life.
•Family members and friends of people who have difficulty hearing should learn to read lips since it provides them with an experience that allows them to be more empathetic with the challenges faced by their loved ones. It also makes them more aware of the needs of their deaf and hard of hearing relatives so that they can adjust their actions to help communication.
•Communication professionals can also benefit from learning to lip read because it can teach them the tools they need to communicate more effectively with deaf and hard of hearing persons in both professional and personal situations such as business meetings, lectures, press conferences or even parties.
Why Should You Learn to Lip Read?
Studying to lip read can mean the difference between staying connected with the world and slowly isolating yourself from it. A result of being unable to communicate is a withdrawal from many of the activities that were previously enjoyable to a person who can no longer hear as well as they used to or at all. The frustration that comes with misunderstanding or losing the thread of what is going on can lead you to slowly retire from society and become a passive observer of life instead of an active participant. It can also affect relationships and opportunities.
Learning to lip read is one way to maintain your connection to your loved ones, friends, community and the world in general. Being able to understand what your loved ones and friends are saying can prevent misunderstandings in these very important relationships. It is also an opportunity to learn how to deal with and act in social situations such as attending parties and events with bigger crowds since you will be more aware of the conditions you need to better understand the conversations around you.
Taking the first step to learn to lip read does not have to mean leaving your comfort zone. It is easy to open the door and be involved in the world by trying out a lip reading course online. This course can help you acquire the skills needed to become or remain an active participant in all the things you love to do.
Log in to your Lipreading training now:
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- Professionals
- What is lipreading?
Why lipread?
Communication is so important to all of us and encompasses all areas of our lives, whether it is in our working lives, our social lives or just the everyday, simple interactions with other people.
Those of us who have a hearing loss often feel very left out when our family and friends are in conversation because we are unable to follow accurately what they say.
Sometimes we can become frustrated and depressed and even reluctant to join the group or to go out to events where we know it’s going to be difficult for us.
This self-imposed isolation doesn’t help us as it escalates, and our bad feelings get worse. We can feel miserable.
So, what can we do? First, we have to try to be (and look) positive – people will want to be with us if we are friendly and open. Secondly, we need to find a way of communicating better and this will depend on our own personal circumstances.
For many of us lipreading can help. Whilst it is not a magic wand, lipreading can help us to better understand what we see and hear, enabling us to take a more active part in conversations.
An interesting question – some people think of lipreading as a set of skills, whilst others believe it is an art.
It has been said that lipreading is not precise because some sounds and words look very similar and because it relies so much on the lipreader’s own background knowledge of language and on the quality of speech of the speaker.
This may be true but for many of us lipreading has enabled us to function, much more effectively, in the hearing world.
We consider lipreading as a way of using your skills, knowledge and general awareness – using any clues to help you make sense of what you are hearing, or if you have no hearing, to understand and follow what another person says – to enable you to take part in the conversation.
This is not always easy, because however good at lipreading you are, there are some situations that are difficult to work in (lipreading is especially difficult in large, noisy groups and meetings and where you are listening to speakers with no loop system in place).
Overall though, lipreading can be a lifeline, enabling you to be more confident and to take an active part in many large and small group situations. For most of us using sign language is not an option because we live in the hearing world where very few people know how to sign.
Tips to help you lipread
Learning to lipread never ends. There are different formations to learn, different dialects, and every face is different, dealing in its own way with words. However, the more you learn, the more your confidence will grow, enhancing and strengthening your communication ability.
- Remember to ask people to look at you and speak clearly.
- Ask them not to cover their mouth and to speak a little slower and clearly but with normal rhythm and intonation.
- If possible ask them to face you and keep still.
- If possible find a quiet place to have your conversation – soft furnishings, carpets and curtains all help to absorb noise and make it easier to lipread.
- Make sure the room is well lit and the light is on the other persons face.
- If possible be at the same height and not too far away from the speaker.
- If you can tell people what is best for you – where you need to sit for different situations
- If you cannot understand, ask them to rephrase, repeat or write it down. Keep a pen and paper with you at all times, or use a small, portable writing tablet .
- Wear one of our lipreading badges or lipreading wristbands to make people aware of your communication needs, or find a selection of products in our Lipreading Awareness Kit .
Don’t be surprised if you feel tired. Lipreading requires deep concentration, and you will need to give yourself frequent breaks, especially at first. When you get the chance, close your eyes and relax for a few minutes. Take time out!
Free online lipreading exercises
Lipreading Practice is a free website with lipreading videos and exercises to try at home. Visit the Lipreading Practice website.
Webpage updated: August 2023
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Lip reading, also known as speechreading, is a technique of understanding a limited range of speech by visually interpreting the movements of the lips, face and tongue without sound.
Lip reading, also known as speechreading, is the skill of understanding spoken language by observing the movements of a speaker's lips, facial expressions, and body language. While it's often seen as a simple concept, lip reading is a complex and nuanced practice that requires a high level of concentration and skill.
What is Speech Reading (Lip Reading)? Speech reading, is a comprehensive term that involves understanding speech by observing the movements of the speaker's mouth and face, nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, and body language.
Lip reading is a communication technique that works best when combined with residual hearing or another communication tool such as cued speech or assistive hearing devices. On its own, lip reading does not give full language access–even to the world’s best lip readers.
What is Lip Reading? Lip reading allows you to “listen” to a speaker by watching the speaker’s face to figure out their speech patterns, movements, gestures and expressions. Often called “a third ear,” lip reading goes beyond simply reading the lips of a speaker to decipher individual words.
Lip reading is about watching the speaker's face to figure out their speech patterns, movements, gestures and expressions. Find out more about lip reading.
Lip-reading (sometimes called speechreading) is the ability to understand speech by carefully watching a person's lip patterns and the movement of their tongue and face. From a very young age, children begin to recognise the lip patterns of familiar words.
What is Speech Reading? Speech reading is the technique of using lip reading and other visual cues produced by a speaker to help with the understanding of spoken words. It is a valuable skill for people with hearing loss, as it can help them to communicate more effectively in a variety of settings. What is the technique of speech reading?
There's more to lip-reading than checking out lip movements, though. Someone who's reading your lips might catch the tongue action involved in saying "tah" to distinguish it from "kah," for example. In fact, lip-reading is often called speech-reading instead.
Lipreading is being able to recognise a person’s lip shapes, how they use their teeth and tongue, as well as understanding their gestures and facial expressions when speaking. This helps to understand what’s being said. Lipreading enables people with hearing loss to be more involved in conversation.