SPEECH READING

Reading a person's mind - td.
Use hypnotic suggestions to get the person to say what they are thinking OUT
LOUD in their head. :o) ...then, as they SAY THE WORDS OUT LOUD in their
head, look for the tiny movements of the lips and mouth etc. (that sentence was
both a guide and an example - notice embedded commands) Simple phrase you
may like to start with: "Don't SAY WHAT YOU ARE THINKING OUT LOUD"
Speech reading notes td
The trick of lip reading is to understand how sounds are made. As air is forced from the l
ungs only several things can mechanically be done with it to produce sounds of speech.
It can be fully stopped for a moment to create stops --sounds like
p, t, k, b, etc.
It can be fully stopped from coming out the mouth for a moment -- but allowed to come out the nose -- as in sounds like
m and n and ng as in sing.
It can be fully unblocked, to create the vowels --
a, e, i, o, u
It can be only slightly impeded to create the semivowels of
y and w.
It can be stopped enough to create a hissing or friction, as in
s, f, v,
Sounds like
b, p, m
are called bilabial -- both lips are used. This makes them very visible. Other sounds may be made with a combination of lips
and teeth or just tongue movement further back in the mouth, which can be hard to see.
Vowels made with the tongue in the back of the mouth are accompanied in English by lip rounding. This is often true of r too.
This makes r and u's and o's easier to see, but can make them harder to distinguish from b, p, and m.
When lip movements provide the best visual information for the hearing impaired these movements are precise but not
exaggerated.
Lips are spread towards a smile for the vowels in "Beet," "bit," "bait," and "bet"; the lip opening is rather square for the vowels in
"bat," "bite," and "Bart";
they become progressively rounded for the vowels in "bought," "boat," "book ,"and "boot";
slightly pursed for "Burt;
and neutral for the vowels in "but" and "above."
Lip movements are quite visible for the consonants /p/. /b/, /m/,/w/,,/wh/,/f/, /v/, /sh/, and /zh/.
The teeth play a visual role for consonant phonemes /f/,/v/, /th/(voiced), and /xh/(unvoiced "th" as in "thick").
Teeth are closest to occlusion for /s/ and /z/
and widest apart for /a/, /ah/, and /aw/.
Usually the tongue tip is seen when articulating the two "th" phonemes, and the underside of the tongue tip is sometimes visible
for /t/,/d/,/n/,/l/,/ch/,/j/,/y/, and possibly /r/.
It is difficult to see the underside of the tongue tip for /s/ and /z/ because the teeth are so close together for these sounds.
The back-of-tongue vowels and consonants /k/,/g, and /ng/ are invisible unless you hold a powerful flashlight at just the right
angle and the mouth is wide open. Forget them!
the term "speech reading" rather than "lip reading" because people who "speech read" really do watch facial expressions,
tongue, and jaw movements in addition to the lips.
Emphasise lip rounding of the back vowels such as /aw/in "caught," /oh/ in "coat," /oo/ in "cook," and /ue/ in "cool."
Failure to round the lips for these sounds is a very common sight in people with sloppy articulation.
Spread your lips towards a smile for the high front vowels such as /ee/ in "feet," /i/ in "fit/, the diphthong /ay/ in "fate," and the /e/
in "bet." The lip spread becomes less pronounced as you approach the /e/.
Pay special attention to the lip/tongue/jaw movements of consonants which are potentially most visible:
/p/, /b/, /m/, /w/, /wh/, /f/, /v/, /sh/, /zh/, /t/, /d/, /n/, and /l/.