Lip Reading Academy – Learn and practise an important skill with great fun!

Lip Reading Academy combines tutorials with playing and teaches the skill of lip reading. Through detailed explanation and focused and constant training, users will gain a deep and firm understanding of the movement of the lips, tongue and jaw. The consonants and vowels with similar lips movements are grouped together, which makes the learning process easier and much more efficient.

Chapters
Tutorials and Levels
Certificates
How to make the most of the app?
Is lip reading possible?
Can lip reading be self-taught?
Is lip reading difficult?
Who should learn lip reading?
Why learn lip reading?
What’s vital in lip reading?


Chapters

In total there are 6 chapters, namely Foreword, Consonants, Vowels, Numbers, Words and Phrases. In the Consonants and Vowels chapters, there are 26 tutorials teaching the International Phonetic Alphabet, while in between there are in total 70 levels practicing and enhancing what users have just learnt.

  • The Numbers chapter focuses on the practice of numbers and words which are related to money and so on.
  • The Words chapter trains the most frequently used 800 words in the English language.
  • In the Phrases chapter, users are able to train the most frequently used 400 phrases in our daily life.
  • In the following updates, more words and phrases will be added.

Tutorials and Levels

A tutorial shows and teaches one or several consonants or vowels (which have very similar lips movements) and users can watch, learn and imitate. A level is more interactive as the video shows the lips movement and the user needs to decide which word/phrase has been said. In each level, there are 20 questions (15 different questions + 5 repetitions) and users must be able to answer at least 10 of them correctly to pass the level.


Certificates

A certificate is issued once you have finished all the tutorials and passed all the levels (at least 50% correction rate in each level) in a certain chapter.


How to make the most of the app

When watching the tutorials, the user should try to imitate the movement of the lips and whenever they feel confused in the levels, it’s always a good idea to go back and review the movement. In the levels, users should not look at the answers before having an answer in their mind. This means after watching the movement of the lips, users should think of a word/phrase themselves. After that they should compare the answer in their mind with the 4 answers provided (2 in the Phrases chapter) and make a choice.


Is lip reading possible?

Yes, absolutely. Although studies show that only about 30 to 45 percent of the English language can be understood through lip reading alone, Lip reading can often assist speech understanding. The combination of visual and body signals provides the greatest chance for success in conversations, and increases one’s confidence in their ability to communicate.

Can lip reading be self-taught?

Yes, absolutely. While real-world experience is the best tool at a lip reading learner’s disposal, systemic teaching plus constant and focused training can certainly boost the skills.

In spite of the fact that lip reading is not an exact art, students are usually taught to watch the lips, tongue and jaw movements, to watch the facial expression and body language, and to use their ability to deduce. Lip reading lessons have been shown to be of benefit in UK studies commissioned by the Action on Hearing Loss charity.

Is lip reading difficult?

Yes, very. While some people might pick up the ability to lip-read with relative ease, it’s not an inborn ability. It takes LOTS OF practice, patience and frustration before one becomes fluent and feels comfortable depending on lip reading.

Who should learn lip reading?

Practically everyone. As hearing becomes more and more difficult in old age, people may tend to depend more on lip reading, and are certainly encouraged to do so. Although lip reading is normally used most extensively by deaf and hard-of-hearing people, most people with proper hearing process speech information to a varied degree from sight of the moving mouth.

Why learn lip reading?

It simply improves communication in numerous situations. It’s rather obvious why people who struggle to hear need to learn lip reading, but it is also a VERY USEFUL skill for people with normal hearing. First of all, adding sight of the movement of the mouth improves speech processing. Being able to lip-read makes both the speaker and listener better communicators. Secondly, if you have a friend or family member who is hard-of-hearing, being able to lip-read can provide insights into what they are going through and it makes you more aware when speaking.

What’s vital in lip reading?

  • Tell the speaker in advance that you’ll be lip reading so they will speak slower with clearer mouth movement.
  • You must be able to read more than lips. Facial expressions as well as gestures are vital in understanding any conversation.
  • Context is key. Try to guess the topic as soon as possible. It will help you fill in the gaps of lip reading.
  • Do not try to read each word. Focus on the words and sentences which are related to the topic of the conversation.
  • Train to make reasonable guesses based on the context if you miss or don’t understand an important word.
  • Train to quickly substitute words which make better sense in a given context.
  • Try to sense and follow the rhythm of the speaker, which plays an important role in a conversation.
  • Though lip reading requires a high degree of concentration, you should not put too much pressure on yourself. Only in a relatively relaxed environment will lip reading come to you naturally.
  • Get familiar with the most frequently used words and phrases.
  • It’s natural that you’ll feel tired after lip reading for some time. Ask the speaker to take a break before continuing.

In conclusion, lip reading is a very useful skill which benefits all of us in our daily lives. Its mastery requires A LOT OF time and patience, but the more you consciously practice, the easier and more natural it becomes.

What are you waiting for? Simply download Lip Reading Academy and try it out!

Want more fun? Check out my other games crafted with great efforts.

Currently there are six apps available on the Android platform, namely Morse Mania, Brick Mania, Color ManiaCountry Mania, Hop Mania and Jezz Mania, and there are four apps available on the iOS platform, namely Morse Mania, Swiss Mania,HopManiaandJezz Mania. Soon another two games (NATO Alphabet and Braille Trainer) will be published both on the iOS and the Android platform.

Simply download them and try them out!

Lip Reading Academy – Learn and practise an important skill with great fun! was last modified: March 9th, 2021 by Dong

1 Comment

  1. Awesome, Xiang! Downloading now… 😀

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