Lipreading Mom

As a hard of hearing (HOH) mother of three, I can become frustrated with not hearing my children’s voices well. And I am not alone. According to the Deafness Research Foundation, 17 percent of American adults report some degree of hearing loss.

I grew up with undiagnosed hearing loss that was formally diagnosed when I was 27 years old. It was a bilateral progressive sensorineural hearing loss. There is a family history of deafness and hearing loss, as several members of my family are deaf or hard of hearing. However, in my immediate family, I am the only person who is deaf. I began wearing behind-the-ear hearing aids in 2003 when my firstborn son was two years old. I struggled to hear his emerging speech, as well as other sounds such as the phone ringing, the doorbell, or smoke detectors. 

After receiving my hearing loss diagnosis, I realized my speech comprehension depended on seeing the speaker’s face and watching their lips. However, I found it difficult to lip read my children when they were young because they hadn’t yet learned how to clearly articulate their words. That’s when I created the Lipreading Mom blog. A few of my blog posts involved the process of lipreading and how much effort is involved to decipher speech by watching a person’s lips. 

Personal Experience Leads to Teaching Lipreading

My lipreading skills were acquired through life experience, as well as taking voice and diction classes in college. I did not receive speech therapy as a child or adult. Along the way, teachers and family members corrected me for word mispronunciations and speaking too loud.

Because of my blog, a senior living agency near me reached out asking about teaching lipreading classes in person. That’s where my teaching experience began. I taught several classes at the senior residential center beginning in 2013. Word of mouth generated interest. I also taught lipreading classes at the Deaf Cultural Museum in Kansas, now known as the Museum for Deaf History, Art, and Culture. Other organizations requested lipreading classes, and I continued teaching for eight years, even during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. We wore clear masks during classes.

Lipreading Instructor Insights by Lipreading Mom

• Only 30 – 40 percent of speech sounds are recognizable on the lips. The remaining speech sounds are difficult to decipher.
• Understanding the context of the conversation is important. Then we are better able to puzzle out the missing sounds of speech.
• When tired, it’s harder to focus on lipreading comprehension. 
• Take listening breaks in noisy environments for extended periods of time. 
• One on one conversations in quiet rooms are the best scenarios for lipreading. 
• Be patient when learning to lipread. Everyone who lipreads faces challenges.

Hearing Loss, Lipreading and Confidence

I’ve been lipreading for years and wasn’t aware, due to having undiagnosed hearing loss in my school years. Growing up, I became an astute observer of people as they spoke. I watched their facial expressions, lip movements, and body gestures. Lipreading allows me to decipher what people are saying to me in noisy environments. As long as I know the context of the conversation, I can engage with lipreading. Asking questions to fill in the listening comprehension gaps is another strategy.

It was a giant leap of faith to accept the first offer to teach lipreading because I had no formal training. All skills were learned through life experience with hearing loss and being an acute observer of people when they speak. After the success of the first lipreading classes and subsequent invitations to teach, my confidence in lipreading boosted. 

Even though I now have a cochlear implant (CI), lipreading will likely always have some benefit, particularly with noisy environments. When I take off my CI and hearing aid at night, I rely 100 percent on lipreading since I am deaf without them.

Final Thoughts:

• Practice muting the TV volume during a news broadcast and watch the newscaster’s lip movements, facial expressions and body language. 
• Watch yourself in the mirror, silently repeating words. Notice any kind of body language that happens with words. 
• Ask conversation partners to repeat words to practice reading their lips. 
• Stay with it and have fun!

This article was originally posted at Hearing Loss LIVE. Used with permission.

Related Reading:
Five Ways to Improve Your Lipreading Skills – The Lipreading Mom Way

GATS! How on Earth Do You Lip Read Children?