Lipreading Classes - Hearing Loss LIVE!

Hearing Loss LIVE! offers 2 different lipreading classes throughout the year. See our Events page for dates and times.

Lipreading Concepts – Sign up for our newsletter for dates and times. (All classes are shown in Mountain time. Adjust for your time zone.)
- Tuesdays 11:00 AM – Noon, Sept 12 – Oct 17, 2023
- Wednesdays 5:00 – 6:00 PM, Sept 13 – Oct 18, 2023
Lip Shapes LIVE – Learn the most visible Lip Shapes
- Wednesdays 11:00 AM – Noon, Sept 12 – Oct 18
Lip Shapes LIVE Advanced – Lip Shapes harder to see but builds on past lessons and offers new exercises.
- Thursdays 11:00 AM – Noon Sept 14 – Oct 19, 2023
- Thursdays 5:00 -6:00 PM, Sept 14 – Oct 19, 2023

We teach the Jeffers Method of lipreading. We think of it as a holistic approach to communication. This method focuses on 3 things:

Visible lip shapes (most sounds are not readily visible on the lips)
Situational cues, nonverbal cues and logic
Flexibility

All 3 classes are taught in real-time with live teachers and participation from other students. Learning from each other in a live format gives you the chance to ask questions. Discussion is encouraged. We limit our classes to 10 people so everyone can participate. Classes are $50 for the duration of the class.

Our classes are held online via Google Meet. Google Meet gives you the opportunity to use captions through ASR (automatic speech recognition software). No need to download anything extra to join the meeting through a computer. We provide a link and you click on it. The only step needed is to allow Meet to use your webcam and microphone. You can also join through a tablet or smartphone by downloading the Google Meet app to your device. *A strong wifi is recommended.

Lipreading Concepts

6 weeks, 1 hour per week

In designing a Hearing Loss LIVE! lipreading class, we decided to teach the concepts first so that people can evaluate why, and why not, lipreading is working. In Lipreading Concepts, we teach:

Situational awareness
Discuss nonverbal cues
Using logic and flexibility to fill in the holes

We present a variety of tools that you can use in everyday communication with hearing loss. Set yourself up for successful communication and go into Lip Shapes LIVE! with more confidence.

Chelle & Julia presenting the basics on lipreading at the ALDA convention.

Lip Shapes LIVE!

6 weeks, 1 hour per week

We will focus on 6 visible lip shapes. The class is structured as follows.

Practice word lists, with no voice
Expand with simple sentences around a theme, no voice
5 minute review of a concept or strategy

You don’t have to take the Lipreading Concepts class before taking Lip Shapes LIVE!, although it is highly recommended. We will not cover concepts in depth during this class. Learning lip shapes takes practice and repetition. It’s not learned overnight. We share ideas for practice and will be adding advanced lipreading classes in the future.

Lip Shapes LIVE, Advanced

Please take the Lip Shapes LIVE class before attending this class. The lip shapes introduced in this class are not easy to see therefore we depend on lip shapes learned in the past class. The Advanced class builds on past lessons and exercises are more challenging.

Is it speechreading or lipreading?

For a long time it was considered ‘lipreading’. Lipreading does not rely solely on lip shapes so ‘speechreading’ was introduced thinking it covered more than lips. We still aren’t sure this is correct terminology because it goes beyond speech too. We decided to use ‘lipreading’ because the term goes back many years and people generally understand this before ‘speechreading’. Who knows, maybe someday we will give it a whole new name.

Misconception

There is a huge misconception that lipreading is all lip shapes. This is false. Many lip shapes are not readily visible. With hearing loss, we can’t rely solely on our hearing and the same is true of lipreading. We have to learn to fill in the gaps with other tools.

History/Experience

Before we started Hearing Loss LIVE!, Chelle and Julia were involved with speechreading classes with the State of Utah. Chelle & Julia both taught the class which had 18 lessons. Each lesson was an hour and a half containing lip shapes and concepts. There was a point early on when people felt overwhelmed. It was too much at once. This is the main reason we started with Lipreading Concepts first.

Chelle taught the class for 8 years, first as a Hard of Hearing Assistant and later as the Hard of Hearing Specialist. She revised the class twice to fit the needs of beginning students.
Julia taught the class for one year but supported lipreading classes through CART. She learned how to lipread over the years. She believes hearing people have a lot to learn from these classes. They become better communication partners when they understand it’s not just lip shapes.

Hearing Partners are Welcome!

Hearing partners are a wonderful addition to the class and encouraged to attend. We’ve seen firsthand how much communication improves once the hearing partners understand all the concepts for lipreading and better hearing. We are currently offering a two for one price to people who bring their hearing partner.

When the pandemic came along, all in-person classes for the state were halted. As the Hard of Hearing Specialist, Chelle took all classes online within 6 weeks. This was a boon! We could now reach people from all over the state instead of certain locations. Rural people could join for the first time. We found out lipreading was easier online because people are generally closer to the camera instead of 6 feet away.

We love our online classes & the people we meet! Register here.

See what Wikipedia says about Lipreading.

The United Kingdom is aware of the benefits of lipreading. ATLA (Association of Teachers of Lipreading to Adults) has several classes available. Hearing Loss LIVE! is one of the very few, online live classes offered in the USA.

Testimonials

Gloria: I am a Clinical Social Worker and I took the Lip Reading Class offered. They created a great class for communication for those who are HOH or deaf. I was amazed at what I learned every day. It is well worth the money to take the class and the instructors are exceptional. I will use this everyday in my practice and life. TAKE THE COURSE, it will change your life.
Maria: The class has definitely improved my communication. My friends know to be in front of me when they speak. They also know if they walk away, I won’t hear them. I communicated more clearly with health personnel during a recent medical visit. They understood my communication needs and helped advocate for me after when someone didn’t.
Attendee: The lip-reading concepts class gave me a set of tools for receiving spoken information. No single approach to communication works all the time so having the lip-reading concepts tools and the instructors’ encouragement to keep trying was most helpful. They provided great memorable examples and resources that will remind us that there are often other approaches to understand more of the words others say.

Read our personal experiences with lipreading on our original Lipreading Concepts class post here.