Learning to lipread

09 Dec 2013

Earlier this year, the Probus Club of Victor Harbor/Granite Island, had Dr Mary Allen visit to give a talk on the subject of lipreading.

There are various ways of learning lipreading: face to face in class with a teacher, or in self-help groups, and at home.

In previous years, the most common mediums used for the teaching and learning of lipreading were books and television programs. As visual technology advanced and expanded, it provided opportunities for people to self-learn lipreading, by way of VCR players, to DVD players, to today’s computers.

At this present time, there are nine types of lipreading software available in the world. Generally speaking, they consist of multimedia components with actual or computer generated animation video clips, and contain learning material, exercises, tests and reviews.

To a certain degree, many people do actually lipread, without being consciously aware of it.

Ever heard of anyone say “Let me put my glasses on, I hear better”?

It’s not really surprising when one considers everyday speech, with common expressions such as: How are you? It’s a beautiful day; Happy birthday, and so on. There are many words that look alike, which can only be determined by its context.