Speechreading Revisited

Abstract

Although speechreading has always served an important role in the communication of deaf people, educational interest in speechreading has decreased in recent decades. This paper reviews speechreading in terms of speech processing, neural activity and literacy, and suggests that it has an important role in intervention programmes for all deaf children, including those with cochlear implants.

Keywords:

• audio-visual communication
• cochlear implants
• functional imaging
• lipreading
• literacy
• speechreading

Notes

1 The earlier term is ‘lip-reading’ but the term speechreading is preferred as information is obtained from the face as a whole, not just from the lips.