Mishearing conversation is a regular occurrence for me and always has been, but after losing all of my hearing in my right ear I began mishearing words and sentences on a daily basis and the words became more and more obscure or just downright stupid.
Reading lips is a LOT harder than you think it is.
Lip reading takes a lot of energy and concentration and isn’t even 30% accurate as most of us just guess the sentence which can lead to some embarrassment.
Just the other day I was sitting on the sofa chatting away with my husband about some inconsequential nonsense when I suddenly blurted out “do i want curry powder? Why would I want curry powder?”
My husband was in stitches, crying with laughter whilst I was sat looking confused and not knowing what on earth he was talking about.
Turns out he actually said “do you want a Creme Caramel?”. A whole different ball game completely. And I did go for that creme caramel, sans curry powder of course.
I’ve also often been left embarrassed when singing along to songs as I have a tendency to make up lyrics if I do not understand what they are saying.
Until very recently I’ve been singing ‘All About That Bass, no trouble’. Now I know the real lyrics it makes much more sense! There’s never a dull moment when I’m around.
For a hearing impaired/deaf individual, lip-reading is relied on to pick up on words that they cannot hear but sometimes even this can prove to be full of potential, often hilarious, slip ups.
Some people are just easy to lip-read and some, for reasons unknown are just impossible. Sometimes even the slightest misunderstanding can completely change your train of thought and result in some clangers.
Even simple statements can easily be mistaken when lip-reading…
“I Love You” = Olive Juice / Elephant Shoes
“You’re an idiot” = You’re hideous
Words that sound similar can also cause issues such as;
Mop /bop /pop
Cab /lab
Ten /den
Cat /hat /pat
and so forth.
There is a whole YouTube channel ‘Bad Lip Reading’ dedicated to the clangers made when attempting to read lips and worth checking out to see if you can actually work out what was really said. You can find the channel here.
Also have a look at this video can you work out what they are saying? I got 2/4, a “fine effort”.
Here are some top tips for making the lip-readers life a little bit easier;
· Make sure you are in a well-lit environment; it is near on impossible to lip read in the dark or a shadowy area.
· Make sure you are not eating/chewing whilst talking
· Do NOT cover your face with your hands
· Speak slowly and clearly
· Face the lip reader when speaking – V. Important!
· Do NOT mumble!
· Do NOT over exaggerate your facial expressions – this actually makes life harder!
What have been your best/worst/most embarrassing (delete as appropriate) lip reading disasters? I’d love to hear them.
Judy Perry
May 19, 2016
My most recent misunderstanding was while enjoying a glass of wine with the other half. These days most wine (at least the wine we buy!) comes in screw top bottles. When he said, out of the blue, “I find it really irritating for you to talk these days”, I was a bit shocked! So I looked at him and, using my checking strategy of a closed question, repeated it back to him “Did you say……….?”
“No”, he said, “I said ‘I’d find it really irritating to use a cork these days'”
If you say both sentences in a mirror you will see they do look very similar. Talk and Cork both have the ‘aw’ vowel sound. ‘t’ and ‘c’ are not very visible consonant lipshapes. Lipreading classes are a great help in understanding why these confusions arise (yes, I am a lipreading teacher!). Find out more at http://www.atlalipreading.org.uk
Louis Schwarz (@DeafBowTie)
May 20, 2016
This link may be of interest! http://eapd.weebly.com/blog/lipreading-which-makes-one-sense-do-the-work-of-another-is-a-skill-daunting-to-describe#.Vz6R9I-cGUk
Diana
May 20, 2016
Let me tell you a funny story. Years ago I underwent some colonscopy procedures etc taking stuff to empty my insides. I went back to collect my X-rays at the counter and the front lady said to me ‘Did you fart today?” feeling annoyed I said ‘I’m sorry I am deaf could you repeat?” she repeated in a louder voice ‘Did you fart today?’, feeling annoyed as there were quite a few people waiting in the reception area, I asked her to write it down! She wrote ‘Did you fast today?’…… ha ha ha ha there you go it proves that lipreading is not 100% effective!
Becky
May 20, 2016
This is my life story! I have learnt to laugh at some of the responses I have come out with in the past from mishearing words but I do think many people don’t know how to communicate with people with hearing loss, yet I am the one who is ‘strange’.
Loved reading this blog and knowing its not just me!