Read My Lips! Trivia Quiz

Answer: All of these

Speechreading tends to be most useful to people who live primarily in a hearing world where most everyone they know communicates by speech. It's also most useful to those who have some residual hearing - it's best used as a tool to give more information to help understand speech, than as a complete communication system all on its own.

The popular idea that speechreaders can, for instance, understand with complete accuracy what strangers across a crowded dim room are saying, well, that's fun for a TV show, but it's unrealistic in real life. Speechreading works best close up, in good light, with familiar faces, and with at least some notion of what the conversation is about.

That said, it can be very useful indeed. Studies have shown that, for those with severe to profound hearing loss, hearing aids alone can bring speech comprehension to about 60%. When speechreading techniques are added to hearing aids, comprehension is brought up to more than 90%.

Oh, and why is it called "speechreading" rather than "lipreading"? Because speecheaders do a lot more than just focus on the lips; we take in the entire picture - facial expression, body language, context, our knowledge of who the speaker is and how they are likely to express themselves. In my classes, I tell my students to think of communication as a jigsaw puzzle - you don't need every single tiny piece in order to understand the picture, but the more pieces you have, the better your understanding. The movements of the lips and tongue are some of these pieces, but there are many others.

Answer: All three of these

While this movement is very easy to see, it can present some problems, as the three sounds are almost identical. If you watch yourself making these sounds in the mirror, and look very carefully, you might see small differences, but these differences disappear in a real-life situation where you are watching other people speak.

Thus "meat", "beat", and "peat" will look the same in speech, as will "mat", "bat" and "pat". You'll need to use context to tell them apart.

Answer: A graph that plots hearing loss

An audiogram is a graph with decibels along one axis, and sound frequencies along another. When you take a hearing test, you will hear beeps at various decibel levels, and at various frequencies. A mark is placed on the graph at the lowest decibel level you can hear a particular frequency. A line is then drawn between the marks, to give a visual representation of your hearing loss. The right ear is usually marked with a circle, and the left ear with an X.

A very common audiogram reading for age-related hearing loss is a line that starts reasonably high on the left side of the graph (low frequency) and then slopes downward as it goes to the right (higher frequency). In other words, that person would still be able to hear low frequency sounds fairly well, but would be losing the higher frequencies.

A common complaint among the spouses of those with hearing loss is that their spouse has "selective" hearing. "Oh, he hears his buddies well enough, but when *I* talk to him, all of a sudden he can't hear!" Now, I'm not going to guarantee that this man isn't ignoring his wife, but it's entirely possible that he has a lot more trouble hearing her higher-pitched voice than he does that of his male friends!

Answer: Front teeth touch the bottom lip

F and V are clearly visible, and while the two sounds are mostly indistinguishable on the mouth, they don't present the kind of problems that come from B, P and M. There are very few words in English where it really matters whether you saw an F or a V.

It makes a big difference whether you are saying "meet" or "beat" in the sentence "I'm going to ____ my children later"! However, no one is likely to be too confused between "very" and "ferry" when you say "I'm catching the _____ to the mainland at eight".

Answer: False

Hearing aids are wonderful - I could not function out in the world without mine - and they're getting better all the time, but they do not "solve" hearing loss.

Hearing aids can provide volume and some clarity, and can fine-tune this so that help is given in the frequencies that need it most. They often have different programs for different situations, such as focusing to the front in a restaurant so what is being said at the next table is not as loud as what is being said by one's dinner partner. They can make an enormous difference to the quality of life of those with hearing loss.

But they can't repair a damaged cochlea. Or a damaged auditory nerve. Even the best hearing aids, programmed by the best technician, are not going to completely replace normal natural hearing.

And that's where speechreading comes in. This skill, along with the communication strategies that are usually taught in the classes, can help fill in some of those gaps.

Answer: L

When I first started taking speechreading classes, my instructor was a woman with very clear and beautiful Ls. I made a conscious decision at that point to articulate my own Ls so they could be seen, moving them a little towards the front of my mouth. It's an unmistakable movement, on those who open their mouths wide enough, and are far enough forward that it can be seen.

Answer: Shouting

Unfortunately, sensitivity to loud noises often accompanies hearing loss, so shouting is not only unhelpful, it can maybe be painful. Shouting, speaking extremely slowly, and using highly exaggerated mouth movements just make things harder.

If I had to name the single most helpful action when communicating with those with hearing loss, getting their attention before speaking would probably win. I can't tell you the number of times I've just tuned in to the fact that someone is speaking to me when they get to the end and say something like "So, what do you think?"

If you're frustrated by having to repeat everything three times to your old mother with hearing loss, try getting her attention first, facing her, speaking clearly and just a tiny bit more slowly, and waiting to drink that coffee or chew that gum until after speaking. You could take that toothpick out of your mouth, too.

Answer: Long vowels tend to be easy to see, short vowels tend to be more difficult

Try it in your mirror - the mouth shapes for the vowel sounds in "easy", "eye", "bake", "open" and "shoot" are fairly pronounced and visible. While the mouth shapes for the vowel sounds in "bit", "but", "bet", "bat" and "bot" are not only pretty vague, they're all much the same - just a half open mouth, with not much tooth or tongue action.

Vowels are usually low frequency, and are among the loudest speech sounds, while consonants tend to be higher frequency. This means that vowels sounds can be easy for those with the very common high frequency loss to hear - but it also means that this speech doesn't convey much meaning. Consonants, in English, are the sounds that give the most meaning to words.

This is one of the reasons why those with high frequency loss often complain that everyone is mumbling - they are hearing that someone is speaking, but can't make any sense of it, because all they hear are the vowels.

Answer: Plump and frump

This question is a lot easier if you know what a homophene is!

Homophenes are words that look the same (or very similar) on the lips, but have different, sometimes very different, meanings and sounds.

As we learned earlier in the quiz, B and M look very alike, as do D and T. Soft G and C are also very similar. N and T do have some differences, but they're pretty subtle, and not easily picked up in speech.

However, the very clear P of "plump" contrasts quite a bit with the equally obvious F of "frump".

There are a lot of homophenes in English. For the most part, speechreaders have to depend on context to tell them apart. This is one of the reasons why people with hearing loss might take a second to answer a question - there's a lot of computation and figuring going on while they sort out what it was you said. Much of this is done almost subconsciously, and it's done very fast, but not quite as fast as the effortless immediate understanding of the person with normal hearing. It's also one of the reasons why we get very tired after a long day of listening - listening, for us, is very hard work!

Answer: Yes

There are a couple of reasons for those with hearing loss to focus on their own articulation.

One is that humans are natural mimics; it's a built-in part of being a primate. So it's in the best interests of the hard of hearing to speak clearly - if we do it, those we are speaking to will unconsciously mimic us, and speak clearly, too. Or at least that's the theory, and I have found it works, especially with those I speak with often.

Another reason is that as we lose our hearing, we also lose our ability to hear ourselves. People with long-term severe hearing loss tend to develop what is sometimes called the "deaf accent" - we can't distinguish between some sounds and start to lose the ability to articulate them. Practising clear articulation helps to combat this.

There are other aspects to not hearing our own voices well - if I speak loud enough to really hear myself, people tell me I'm shouting. That tends to make me a little self conscious, and then I speak too softly! Sometimes you just can't win...