Wellness

[granddi]

Have you or a loved one learned to read lips?

Did you use an on line support training?

Maybe work with a speech therapist?

[kaydee50]

Can't answer you but I'll be interested in any responses from others.  I'm intrigued with the idea of learning to read lips.  Could be very useful if hearing starts to fail.

[jlkz]

One of the best things we can do for folks who read lips is to not  put your hands / fingers near or in front of your mouth.  

There was a great waitress in a family-owned, very busy diner who was quite good at lip-reading.  Most folks never realized that she was hearing -impaired.  

It would drive me crazy when my mother would give her her order:  she had a bad habit of keeping two fingers near her lips.  Finally, I gave the waitress my mother's order.

At home I demonstrated speaking to her with my hands obstructing my mouth the way she to usually did.  It was a habit she 

[granddi]

We were at dinner with a man who is profoundly deaf and has just gotten cochlear implants. The restaurant was noisey and he managed conversation well. The only hint that he was reading lips was when he said to the wait person " I need to see your face bc Im reading your lips" 

It got me thinking about the value of being able to read lips. 

[JeanLouiseFinch]

I rely on my hearing aids, but I have a sister who is particularly adept at lip reading.  She wears aids but they aren't up to date so her lip reading is her back up.  She really struggled during the mask mandate. 

[Carmie]

My Mother was legally deaf.  She could read lips and feel vibrations.

If I walked into her bedroom in the middle of the night while she was sleeping, she would wake up....she could feel the door open and foot steps, even on carpet.

I am not a good lip reader at all.  But, most people whisper loud enough for me to hear them. My hearing is super senstitive. I have way better hearing than most people.

[cjm61]

@granddi I did not learn to read lips. However, my cousin is deaf and reads lips "fluently". My family all took sign language classes, some have mastered it and others, like me, gave up since she read our lips and never "read" our hands signing. 

She knows what people are saying across the room, it's very interesting sometimes. With that said, my kids repeatedly teach their little ones to sign and everyone in the family has at least a small knowledge of ASL. It's such a universal language, too bad it's not mandatory to take ASL.