Is Lip-Reading Normal?

Communication is central to our everyday lives, whether at work, home, or in social settings. For individuals with hearing loss, feeling left out of conversations can be a common experience, even when they use hearing technology. This is where lip-reading becomes an essential strategy for understanding speech better and engaging fully in face-to-face interactions.

Although speech perception is traditionally thought of as an auditory skill, it is inherently multimodal—that means we use multiple senses to perceive speech. When we speak, our lips, teeth, and tongue move visibly, providing visual information that complements what we hear. In fact, studiesGanesan Karthik, Cody Zhewei Cao, Michael I. Demidenko, Andrew Jahn, William C. Stacey, Vibhangini S. Wasade, David Brang.  Auditory cortex encodes lipreading information through spatially distributed activity Current Biology, Volume 34, Issue 17, 9 September 2024, Pages 4021-4032.e5[1] point out that most of us subconsciously use lip-reading abilities to enhance our speech understanding.

What Is Lip-Reading?

Lip-reading, often called “speechreading,” refers to recognizing spoken language by observing a speaker’s lip movements, facial expressions, and gestures, combined with prior knowledge of language and context. While it’s an invaluable tool, even under the best conditions, only about 30-40% of spoken language is visible on the lips. Therefore, additional cues such as context, remaining hearing, and body language are crucial for piecing together the message.

Lip-reading is a nuanced, highly complex skill that takes effort and concentration. It’s worth noting that it serves as a complementary tool rather than a standalone solution, especially for individuals with hearing loss.

Is Lip-Reading a “Normal” Part of Communication?

Absolutely! Lip patterns add significant value to communication, even for people with typical hearing. For instance, phonemes (basic speech sounds) like /m/, /b/, and /p/ may look identical on the lips, making context and listening important for distinguishing between them. Similarly, phrases like “I love you” and “Olive too” might appear identical visually. Observing gestures and facial cues can also provide hints about the meaning behind the words.

Linguistic research highlights the role of “visemes”—speech sounds that look the same on the lips. While English has approximately 44 phonemes, only 14 visemes are visible, meaning multiple sound distinctions rely on supplemental auditory information.

Combining auditory and visual information enhances word recognition significantly, regardless of age.Gómez-Vicente, V., Esquiva, G., Lancho, C., Benzerdjeb, K., Jerez, A. A., & Ausó, E. (2024). Importance of Visual Support Through Lipreading in the Identification of Words in Spanish Language. Language and Speech, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309241270741[2] This finding underscores the importance of using every resource—including lip-reading—to engage in effective communication.

Lip-Reading With Hearing Loss or Cochlear Implants

For people with hearing loss, including those with cochlear implants, lip-reading often plays an integral role in communication. Even with assistive hearing devices, discriminating between certain consonants can be challenging. Paying attention to facial movements, lip patterns, and other non-verbal cues helps bridge the gap.

Cochlear implant users who are more reliant on visual information develop better lip-reading skills compared to people with natural hearing.A. Agarwal, B. Sen, R. Mukhopadhyay, V. Namboodiri and C. V. Jawahar, "Towards MOOCs for Lipreading: Using Synthetic Talking Heads to Train Humans in Lipreading at Scale," 2023 IEEE/CVF Winter Conference on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV), Waikoloa, HI, USA, 2023, pp. 2216-2225, doi: 10.1109/WACV56688.2023.00225.[3] This means that relying on visual input does more than just aid understanding—it can enhance communication abilities over time.

Lip-Reading in Noisy Environments

In situations with background noise, lip-reading becomes even more crucial for effective communication. Watching the speaker’s face, particularly their lip-movements, improves comprehension and reduces the mental effort required to understand speech. For example, in video calls or online meetings where faces aren’t always visible, communication often feels more challenging and tiring.

Visual cues—such as facial expressions, eye gaze, gestures, and lip movements—all contribute to conveying meaning. ­­­

How Lip-Reading Complements Auditory Training

Lip-reading isn’t just about the visual aspect; it complements auditory training, particularly for cochlear implant recipients. Studies show that adding lip-reading to speech-in-noise tasks improves word recognition for both people with natural hearing and those with cochlear implants.Ganesan Karthik, Cody Zhewei Cao, Michael I. Demidenko, Andrew Jahn, William C. Stacey, Vibhangini S. Wasade, David Brang.  Auditory cortex encodes lipreading information through spatially distributed activity Current Biology, Volume 34, Issue 17, 9 September 2024, Pages 4021-4032.e5[1]

As such, lip-reading should be seen as an enhancement of auditory perception, not a replacement.

Does Everyone Benefit From Lip-Reading?

Lip-reading offers significant benefits, especially for people with hearing loss and cochlear implant users. However, it may not be equally effective for everyone. Factors like accents, fast talking, mumbling, language familiarity, lighting, and environmental distractions can impact its success.

Is Lip-Reading Enough?

A cochlear implant, supported by consistent auditory training and rehabilitation, lays the foundation for strong spoken communication skills. While lip-reading is an invaluable tool, the goal is to make it a support rather than a necessity.

For cochlear implant users, ongoing training, such as with the ReDi app, can help improve listening abilities in everyday situations. Combined with lip-reading strategies, this dual approach enables recipients to thrive in both quiet and noisy settings.