Lip Speech Reading

Lip Speech Reading Classes are funded by the Jersey Audiology Department - detials below.

Venue -  Andrew Le Maistre Room at the Hearign Resource Centre, Eva Wilson Building, Overdale

For dates of courses please email:

audiology@health.gov.je  or  jerseycommunicationzone@gmail.com

Practice your Lip Speech Reading skills -  If you wish to practice your lip reading skills you will find several videos availiable on the  Lip Reading Matters  channel on YouTube.  The videos were also sponsored by the Jersey Audiology Department as an alternative for those peole who are unable to access the weekly classes.

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Lip Speech Reading is a skill many people do without realising it and many use it without being aware they do so.  When someone has hearing difficulties, they often rely heavily on lip speech reading as part of their communication needs.  In this part of our website, we have provided a few tips and tricks which can help lip readers and those who may wish to learn how to Lip Speech Reading.

Lip Speech Reading is a difficult thing to learn as there is not a specific lip shape for every sound made.  For example, the lip shape for B*, M and P are exactly the same, as you will see this if you look at the Phonetic Alphabet.  Only 30-40% of sounds in the English language are noticeable by sight.  Many of our words and syllables are so similar, that you cannot actually tell them apart by lip speech reading alone.

The range of sounds the human voice can make is huge and patterns of speech are complex.  When lip speech reading, it is possible to identify about 40 sounds which can be seen on the lips.  In order to lip speech read, we have to learn to associate the particular lip shapes to their sounds and to help us do this, there is a have a list of sounds and the letters by which we can identify their shapes.  This list is called the Phonetic Alphabet.

The range of sounds the human voice can make is huge and patterns of speech are complex.  When lip speech reading, it is possible to identify about 40 sounds which can be seen on the lips.  In order to lip speech read, we have to learn to associate the particular lip shapes to their sounds and to help us do this, there is a have a list of sounds and the letters by which we can identify their shapes.  This list is called the Phonetic Alphabet.

AH - as in   cAH  :   AIR - as in   cARE   :   AW -  as in   clAW   :   AY - as in    hAY

B* -   as in   Bat   Mat   Pat

C* -   as in   Cat    :   CH - as in   CHoice

D* - as in   Dale   Nail   Tale

E -    as in   tEnt   :   EAR - as in   clEAR   :   EE - as in   fEEt   :   ER- as in   hURt   

EW- as in   fEW

F*-    as in   Fig  Vet

G* -  as in   Got  Hop   Kop

I -     as in   lIp

IA- as in   idEA   :   II-   as in   crY

J* - as in   Jam  :    SH SHip :  ZH as in colliSIon

L -    as in   List  

NG - as in   thiNG

O -   as in   hOt   :   OH - as in   crOW   :   OI - as in   bOY   :   OO - as in   cOOl

OW - as in   cOW

Q* -   as in   Queen   Wax

R -   as in   Rat

S* - as in   Sent   Xylophone   Zest 

TH - as in   THick

U -   as in   cUp   :   URE - as in   pURE   :   UU - as in   fOOt

Y -    as in   Year  

Consonants and Vowels

As with the English language we have consonants and vowels in the lip speech reading language.  The consonants and vowels are in groups according to the SHAPE they make on the lips. 

There are 4 different groups of Consonants as follows:-

Closed teeth group - S, Z, X, T, D, N

Puckered lips group: example -R

Teeth & Tongue group:  example - L

Closed lips group:  example - M

 

There are 3 different groups of Vowels as follows:-

Modified by Lips -  A, O, U, OO, UU where there is no visible restriction to the emerging sound other than the closing and pursing of the lips.

Modified by Tongue - E, A, AH where the lips are in the same position for all the sounds in this group. The only visible difference between the three is the position of the tongue.

Modified by Teeth - EE, I, ER where the shape of the lips changes as we progress through the group.  The teeth also part.

If you are interested in learning how to Lip Speech Read, there are several videos on YouTube which have been sponsored by the Jersey Audiology Department.  The information given here will only give you an introduction to lip speech reading and we would recommend you attend a local group, as it is better to interact with people face to face rather than learn online.  Learning in a group gives you an opportunity to read different people's lips and often different regional accents.  They usually provide group activities and give an opportunity to mix with people who may have similar communication needs as your own.