Perfecting lipreading skills?

naisho

naisho

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Never took classes on lipreading so I am clueless as to how to perfect it.
I've mostly relied just on what I'm used to from personal experience, but it's nowhere great.

You guys got some tips to pass on? How do/did you practice?
 
naisho said:
Never took classes on lipreading so I am clueless as to how to perfect it.
I've mostly relied just on what I'm used to from personal experience, but it's nowhere great.

You guys got some tips to pass on? How do/did you practice?
Click to expand...

I don't have it; not my forte but research has shown that, at best, the average lip-reader gets about 30%. Of course, that could rise some with familiarity with people like close friends and relatives but for all practical purposes, its not reall effective.

For me, personally, the rate is considerably higher because I hear/comprehend and lip-read at the same time whenever possible.
 
Someone that is late-deafened or HOH should not have too much of a problem with lip-reading. I've done it all my life and got by just fine, as long as someone doesn't talk to fast, turn their heads, moustaches, mumbles, etc.

As for learning "how", it just came naturally to me. For someone born deaf, it's probably not as natural. I learned to read lips in school, many moons ago and perfected it as I grew older, along with my speech. Practice, Practice....
 
rockin'robin said:
Someone that is late-deafened or HOH should not have too much of a problem with lip-reading. I've done it all my life and got by just fine, as long as someone doesn't talk to fast, turn their heads, moustaches, mumbles, etc.

As for learning "how", it just came naturally to me. For someone born deaf, it's probably not as natural. I learned to read lips in school, many moons ago and perfected it as I grew older, along with my speech. Practice, Practice....
Click to expand...


I don't know about that bold of your sentence that may not true.

i know some hearing people who are late deafended did have hard time at lipreading becasue they relied on listening to the sounds without looking at their lips.

my husband was born profound deaf. He has pretty good at lip reading all his life.
It depends on what indivdual people how they have been praciticing with the lipreading.

But for HOH, HOH may have more likely rely on both of listening and lip reading more.
 
It's just something I've always done without really thinking about. I would just say really study phonetics and how mouth shapes produce certain sounds and try and train yourself to recognize them automatically without thinking about what sound is being produced. I'm sure there are plenty of books on this subject.

Also, remember that lipreading becomes much easier when it is combined with residual hearing. I have a lot of useful hearing in 20-250hz range (nothing past 750hz), but without lipreading I only understand about 10-20%, even in a quiet environment. With lipreading, in a quiet to moderate environment, I can understand 70-90%. But if it's too loud to make out any sounds, or the speech is reproduced through a speaker or television set, my comprehension drops back down to 20-30%.
 
I was born deaf as well so I think it just came naturally over time. Especially when I was a teenager and not under my parent's wings as much so I had to fend for myself with understanding others. I think my comprehension rate is higher than the average as well because I use my hearing aids to help me put two-and-two together - I understand far less when I do not have my aids in. Try muting your television and see what you can understand - you'll probably find you pick up certain letters easier than others (and some are indistinguishable) and work on lipreading the letters that aren't as easy. Keep the pause button handy! :)
 
Did your husband wear hearing aids growing up? sometimes sounds help people lipread better and if they take off their hearing aids, They remember what the word sounds like when they lipread. Anyway, it depend on the person . For me, I have to have both sounds and lipreading. I can't really live by just one of each. That is, if I don't have my CI on, I have NO IDEA what the person is saying just by lipreading alone. If I can't see their face, I have NO IDEA what the person is saying by listening sounds alone. I have to have both in order for me to understand. (in a way, lipreading is like cued speech to me)

btw, I still have trouble in sometimes even with speechreading
 
I've been deaf for over 19 years and lipreading has come naturally to me, even as a kid I was able to lipread. Plus my hearing sister is able to lipread too, even thought she does not need it.
 
I find it hard to lipread some of my mountain talk speaking family (hillbilly accents... like worsh instead of wash)
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/smokies/

(btw, I thought it was rooted from welsh - because I looked up worsh and other words like that in the dictionary and it say it is originate in welsh but I have to double check on that. Anyway, I did notice that the welse synax is almost similiar to ASL)
 
AlleyCat said:
I was born deaf as well so I think it just came naturally over time. Especially when I was a teenager and not under my parent's wings as much so I had to fend for myself with understanding others. I think my comprehension rate is higher than the average as well because I use my hearing aids to help me put two-and-two together - I understand far less when I do not have my aids in. Try muting your television and see what you can understand - you'll probably find you pick up certain letters easier than others (and some are indistinguishable) and work on lipreading the letters that aren't as easy. Keep the pause button handy! :)
Click to expand...

I have been trying this practice from time to time without much success.. Watching shows without the sound or subtitles on. It just gets way too hard once past some point beyond catching up on the conversation where I give in to subtitles for me to see what they're saying.
Obviously I need to persist to see better results...

I've noticed it is pretty hard for me to catch speakers with an accent.. a southerner for example. An example from one show (Reno 911) - it's fairly difficult to understand a female who portrays a southern accent, but it's easy to understand the african american female who somewhat seems to drag her words out and slower. I don't know why it's this way, but I assume it may be due to how my experiences are growing up.


A said:
I find it hard to lipread some of my mountain talk speaking family (hillbilly accents... like worsh instead of wash)
Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Smokies | PBS

(btw, I thought it was rooted from welsh - because I looked up worsh and other words like that in the dictionary and it say it is originate in welsh but I have to double check on that. Anyway, I did notice that the welse synax is almost similiar to ASL)
Click to expand...

Lipreading some languages must be an impossible feat. I have experience with japanese, chinese, spanish and korean. Due to the similarities in the basic "alphabets" and differences in tones some of in these languages, it makes it quite a feat.
For example, the Japanese incorporate the a-e-i-o-u alphabetized system which would be a challenge to grasp.
The koreans drag and aggregate their words. "sekkisei kose-jjang"
In chinese "da" can be pronounced in 4 tones - da, da1, da2, da3, da4. Similar examples can be seen in japanese.


Now if any of these non-native english speakers then attempt english, it is hard to follow their lip patterns.
 
Lipreading is never perfect but it takes practice. I was not good at lipreading few years back but after working in the department, my lipreading skills has improved greatly over the years and it applies the same for anywhere else when I lipread the others. It takes practice and it comes naturally
 
Frisky Feline said:
I don't know about that bold of your sentence that may not true.

i know some hearing people who are late deafended did have hard time at lipreading becasue they relied on listening to the sounds without looking at their lips.

my husband was born profound deaf. He has pretty good at lip reading all his life.
It depends on what indivdual people how they have been praciticing with the lipreading.

But for HOH, HOH may have more likely rely on both of listening and lip reading more.
Click to expand...

Yes. My son was born deaf, and by the time he was diagnosed, he was already lipreading some common phrases like, "Are you hungry?" Of course, he wasn't able to say the words, but he knew when my mouth made those motions, it was about food.
 
naisho said:
Never took classes on lipreading so I am clueless as to how to perfect it.
I've mostly relied just on what I'm used to from personal experience, but it's nowhere great.

You guys got some tips to pass on? How do/did you practice?
Click to expand...

In my class we learned that only 30% of the English language is actually readable on the lips. The rest of the words are clarified by context. Also the best lip readers, today, are fluent in the language already. So if you speak english you can lip read english really well. Its creepy to turn the volume off sometimes on a hearing show, and just see how much you can get--very creepy.

Back during AG Bells' time, however, there was a deaf man, (I can't remember his name right now) but he didn't speak english at all and could not only lip read amazingly well, but he could tell where the person was from based on where their lips where or tongues during certain words. COOL right!
 
naisho said:
I have been trying this practice from time to time without much success.. Watching shows without the sound or subtitles on. It just gets way too hard once past some point beyond catching up on the conversation where I give in to subtitles for me to see what they're saying.
Obviously I need to persist to see better results...

I've noticed it is pretty hard for me to catch speakers with an accent.. a southerner for example. An example from one show (Reno 911) - it's fairly difficult to understand a female who portrays a southern accent, but it's easy to understand the african american female who somewhat seems to drag her words out and slower. I don't know why it's this way, but I assume it may be due to how my experiences are growing up.




Lipreading some languages must be an impossible feat. I have experience with japanese, chinese, spanish and korean. Due to the similarities in the basic "alphabets" and differences in tones some of in these languages, it makes it quite a feat.
For example, the Japanese incorporate the a-e-i-o-u alphabetized system which would be a challenge to grasp.
The koreans drag and aggregate their words. "sekkisei kose-jjang"
In chinese "da" can be pronounced in 4 tones - da, da1, da2, da3, da4. Similar examples can be seen in japanese.


Now if any of these non-native english speakers then attempt english, it is hard to follow their lip patterns.
Click to expand...

I'm told I speak with a Southern accent. I would have a hard time understanding people who are not from the South or from the USA. I remember a coworker from years ago who had a strong New England accent. it was hard for me to understand her. She'd say thing like I pahked my cah in the pahking lot. Every time I heard that, I'd imagine packers in the packing lot. :giggle:
 
naisho said:
Never took classes on lipreading so I am clueless as to how to perfect it.
I've mostly relied just on what I'm used to from personal experience, but it's nowhere great.

You guys got some tips to pass on? How do/did you practice?
Click to expand...
I don't think it is possible to perfect from what I know and understand. Anyone please correct me if I am wrong.
 
Lipreading is very very difficult for me. I usually end up with headaches or tired eyes if I do it for a long period of time.
 
shel90 said:
Lipreading is very very difficult for me. I usually end up with headaches or tired eyes if I do it for a long period of time.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, I agree with that. My eyes are usually blood-shot by the end of the day, so I take a break and close my eyes more often to rest them. And try to get as much sleep as I can. Bright lights give me headaches, my doctor told me to wear sunglasses outside all the time, very light sensitive. I also wear a eye mask when sleeping to block out any light.
 
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