I was born with perfect hearing, then lost most of it slowly over time. The cause is unknown, though the theory is that my cochleas were damaged during an auto-immune disease or some such thing in early childhood– possibly measles. The hearing loss wasn’t diagnosed until I was nineteen. I picked up lip reading (speech reading) naturally as my hearing went, and began wearing hearing aids in my early twenties. Many people think lip reading is an easy skill to master. It’s not. First of all, statistics show only about 30-40% of all spoken sounds are seen on the lips or tongue in the English language. That means the less you hear, the more guessing you must do to keep up with a conversation. Clearly, if you hear nothing, you’ll be guessing more than half the time. Then, factor in tongue, lip and mouth deformities, accents (when words aren’t pronounced the way you’re used to seeing them,) mustaches, beards, nervous oral habits, bad lighting, background noises that drown out what little speech sounds you hear, people who cover their mouths while speaking and those who turn away– it’s virtually impossible to lip read with 100% accuracy. Over the past several decades Hollywood has perpetuated the myth super human lip reading through telescopes a mile away. Yes– we’ve all seen Sue Thomas do it on FBEye. The reason lip reading through a telescope is so laughable to me is that you need to see the tongue and throat as well as the lips which means you need to be fairly close. The smaller the mouth view the harder it is to see tongue movement or shadowy bulges on the throat.
It’s also not very realitic for people to lip read television. The two-dimensional screen skews depth perception. If the head is shown in a straight on shot like you see on the evening news, lip readers will understand more than when watching a movie or TV show because of panning in and out, voice-overs and people talking with their heads turned. This also happens on newscast video clips. In real life, those born profoundly deaf may never master the ability to lip read. Also, lip reading well has nothing to do with intelligence. Some people can and some can’t. That’s all.
I happen to be one of those who lip reads well. By the time my hearing loss was diagnosed at age nineteen, evaluations revealed I was an “expert” lip reader, most likely because I had grown up reading lips. That said, I’ll explain just what it all means. With the use of hearing aids I hear more speech sounds than without, and if you face me, I have a better chance of understanding what you say than if you don’t. If I know you, my chances of lip reading you accurately goes way up. When I’m tired, my lip reading skills suffer because of the great concentration required and all the blanks needing filled. So yeah– I lip read some, I hear some, I guess some. . .
The purpose of my blog is to educate others about hearing loss, and hearing loss issues. D/deafness is grossly misunderstood. I am normal in every sense of the word, and a very capable person who doesn’t hear well.
September 30, 2008 at 11:29 am
Hi,
Just wanted to say that you explained the latter deaf experience far better than I have been able to do it for over 50 years. Yes, it is a lonely life but not withour rewards if we only look for the positive. When we apply our unique experience to daily living we can create anything we let our imagination seek. And quite often I’ve found it brings to us those people we so desparately need at those trying times we pass through and most importantly allowing them to be a part of our life.
Be well and laugh!
February 6, 2009 at 11:48 pm
I was born hearing by the age of 3 ,I started losing my hearing due to bilateral ear infections(every 2-3months I got sick). as I grew up i was always in trouble and it was because I couldnt understand what was being said to me. By the age of 13, I was already in so many fights in school because of it, so I focused on lip ready. By the age of 15 I was getting the hang of it very well. At the age of 35 I got sick , yep it came back bilateral ear infections this time every month. Doctors couldn’t figure it out. I tried hearing aids but they cause me to have headaches, I started looking at people a little harder and got in trouble, mostly women complaints about how i stare. I would explain to people I have a hearing disability so i read their lips, it didnt matter I learned that hearing people are so self conscious that you just cant look at them. Anyway Im 53 profound deaf now , learning ASL and I still tell people I lip read only this time they walk away and dont talk to me. I live in Austin , TX and they dont take kindly to the Deaf culture.
February 27, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Yes you have explained this really well. People think cos I followed them well I can hear ok, when in fact I just had a good day at lipreading. They don’t realise it can actually be hard and tiring, and some wonder why when its one of those bad days where I ask them to repeat, then they remember I’m HOH.
As well as I can sometimes lipread, and going to classes really helped my confidence. I don’t always feel confident lipreading, and yes sometimes its guess work for the bits I don’t hear.
March 21, 2009 at 6:22 am
I ts all wonderful about nature….i just wonder why people will less fully functioning part perform better and in diverse ways with the remaining parts. Is it because they practive more…or ?
See africa,visit Tanzania
March 21, 2009 at 8:23 am
Nicholas- Practice helps, but generally speaking lip reading is either something you can or can’t do. Also contrary to what a lot of people think, it has nothing to do with intelligence. Think of it as being a fast runner. Some people are, some aren’t. Many factors have to fall into place to become a champion, but of course if you run all the time you’ll be faster than those who don’t. It’s the same with lip reading.
Your observation skills do tend to increase when you are deaf. Deaf tend to be much more observant and aware of visual detail than the non-deaf.
July 26, 2009 at 1:23 am
Sorry, I am not deaf, but I do have problems at times hearing certain sounds. so I understand what can happen. I am a teacher searching for answers and I don’t lip read well at all. I will be in big trouble if it goes entirely. I want to read more about hearing loss, I know it could happen with age and I’m getting there, fast. Maybe one of you can guide me. Thanks.
August 31, 2009 at 11:24 pm
I’ve been losing my hearing since a teenager. I have degenerative disease of the middle ear (bone). I will be moving to Austin, TX soon and was wondering if John or anyone else could let me know if there is a lip reading course where I might go. One of the advantages of being nearly deaf is not hearing the noises coming from our neighbors. My husband finds my lack of awareness amusing. Not to mention, our communication can be highly amusing since he is half deaf. Lin read David Lodge’s novel Deaf Sentence if you want to know about living deaf. Bonnie
September 16, 2009 at 2:30 am
Hi, i wanted to know if there is a site where they teach lip reading (where i can download drawings on how to pronounce a, e , i, o, u) using lip drawings… I have a child who is deaf. he was born hearing. at 11 months he was diagnosed with meningitis and the result was bilateral hearing loss. He undergo cochlear implantation but did not benefit much from it. So now, for him to be able to speak i enrolled him in a total communication class… they teach him how to speak using lip reading… i just wanted to expand my knowledge in lip reading since he is only 3 years so i can continue teaching him at home. though he have notes but still i wanted to explore… thanks and hope to hear from you soon…
October 22, 2009 at 1:54 pm
The second win was a safety technology evaluation formerly done on an iron prototype, successfully per- formed in VR. ,
October 22, 2009 at 5:38 pm
From what I’ve read so far (just found your blog today), your story and mine are very much alike! I too lip read as a result of growing up losing my hearing. When my daughter turned out to be hard of hearing, we did genetic testing and found that I was born with a rare genetic disorder – Branchio-Oto-Renal Syndrome (BOR). I started losing my hearing around age 6 but didn’t start wearing hearing aids until my late 20’s. Growing up I failed the school provided hearing tests where you raise your hands in response to sounds if you hear them and my parents thought I was faking it so never had me seen by a professional. Today I’m in my mid 40’s and need the world at about 80 decibels to be able to hear with my hearing aids. I no longer hear consonants so I must lip read in addition to wearing my aids to know what is being said. Thanks for having this blog! I really am looking for some place to connect. I look forward to reading more… you write very well!
Jacqueline
October 23, 2009 at 12:11 pm
The dossier he eventually produced can read like a log of a year-long refusal to face the truth. ,