Lipreading Manual 1

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LIP-READINGPRINCIPLES AND PRACTISE



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LIP-READINGPRINCIPLES AND PRACTISEA HAND-BOOK FOR TEACHERS AND FOR

SELF INSTRUCTION

BYEDWARD B. NITCHIE, B.A.FBINCIFAL OP THE NEW TOBK SCHOOL FOB THE

3ABD-0F-HEAEING

NEW YORKFREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

jJRIS LIBRARYMCMXVI



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Copyrigktj 191$, hyFrederick A. Stokes Company

All righta reserved, including that of translation into foreignUmguageSt inchtding Ute Scandinavian

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TOMY TEACHERS



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MUSICThe ruder strains of music are denied.The music of the human voice is lost,The gulf of silence ever grows more wide.My bark sails noiseless o'er life's swelling tide,

By soundless billows tost.But waves of harmony forever roll.Orchestral cadences e'er fall and rise;The mysteries of the part within God's whole,The eternal whisperings of the Over-Soul

Still 'trance me to the skies.Ceaseless I hear the God of Nature callWhere green and gold chant anthems in the wood;The meadows, daisy-capped, the silver ballOf evening, stars and surging oceanall.

All sing of Love and Good.It is the symphony of symphoniesWithia my soul I hear,to live, to work.To turn my back on stumbling yesterdays.Soul-sure defeats may e'en be victories

If e'er I fight, nor shirk.

vi



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PREFACEThis book is the sixth of my text books

on lip-reading, and as it embodies everythingwhich the previous works contained, andconsiderable in addition, it is intended toreplace them. Some parts of the book ap-peared originally as articles in The Volta Re-view, "a Monthly devoted to the problemsof deafness," published in Washington, D. C,and acknowledgment of the courtesy of allow-ing reprinting is hereby made.Edward B. Nitchie18 East 4ilst Street, New York.



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CONTENTSPAGE

Preface viiFoBEWOBD xiii

PART ICHAPTER

I. The Eye as a Substitute fob Deaf Eabs 3II. Teaching Aims 14

III. To the Friends of the Deaf .... 23IV. Conversation Practise 36V. How TO Use Stories 44VI. The Study of the Movements . . . 55VII. Vowels 61VIII. Consonants 64IX. WoBD Pbactise 70X. Sentence Practise 76XI. MiBBOE Pbactise 81

PART IIFirst Outline of Daily Practise, through Sec. Ill . 93Sec. I. Stoeies for Pbactise 101

II. Conversations 141ix



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X CONTENTSPAGE

Sec. III. Lessons on the Movements . . . 174Consonants Revealed by Lips . . 174Extended Vowels 176Consonants Revealed by Lips (cont.) 181Relaxed Vowels 183Consonants Revealed by Lips (cont.) 189Puckered Vowels 195Consonants Revealed by Tongue. . 201Diphthongs 207Consonants Revealed by Context 213Diphthongs (cont.) 218R after a Vowel 224Variant Sounds 229Unaccented Vowels 234

Second Outline of Daily Practise, through Sec. VI . 245Sec. IV. Exercises 249

Vowel Exercises 249Consonant Exercises 255Double Consonant Exercises . . . 260Double Consonant Contrast Exer-

cises 264Vowel Exercises in Sentences . . . 266Consonant Exercises in Sentences 271Prefix Exercises 275Exercises with Verb Endings . . . 277Suffix Exercises .,..... 280



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CONTENTS xiPAGE

Sec. V. Colloquial Forms 282Colloquial Sentences 283Proverbs 287Colloquial Forms 290

VI. HoMOPHENOus Words 301

APPENDICESA Table of Vowels and Diphthongs 318B Table of Consonants 320C Bibliography



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FOREWORDLip-beading is so presented in this work

that it can be studied and mastered by thehard-of-hearing without the help of a teacher.The book is also intended for use, under ateacher's guidance, by the semi-mute, andby the congenitally deaf who have acquiredspeech and language. Even for the hard-of-hearing, personal instruction under an ex-perienced teacher is, if possible, always ad-visable.The book is divided into two parts: first,

explanatory and directive, telling how to prac-tise; second, giving materials and exercises,or telling what to practise. Anyone studyingby himself, without experienced assistance, isadvised to begin with Part I, Chapters IV-XI,doing only one thing at a time, as may bedirected, for several practise periods untilthe different forms of practise are mastered.Then the work in Part II should be entered



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xiv FOREWORDupon according to the outlines for study theregiven.An experienced teacher, using the book,may begin directly with Part II, letting the

pupil merely read the preliminary chapters.



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PART I



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CHAPTER ITHE EYE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR DEAF EARSIt is well known that the blind in a measure

substitute hearing for sight; sounds of trafficin a busy street are a confused roar to the un-trained ear, but to the experienced blind manthey are a fairly reliable guide on his way.Even to a greater degree can the deaf man

train his eye to substitute for his deaf ears.Watch the mouth of anyone who is speak-

ing, and you will see many clearly definedmovements of the lips, perhaps even of thetongue. The eye trained to associate certainmovements with certain sounds has the powerof interpreting these movements into wordsand sentences.A very large percentage of the deaf are, Ibelieve, incurable, at least at the present stateof medical and surgical knowledge. Thegreatest loss to anyone who is deaf is the lossof understanding speech. Inability to hearmusic or the voices of nature is a deprivation;but inability to hear spoken language is a



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4 LIP-READINGcalamity, unless other means than the ear canbe found to convey the message to the brain;for in the ability to understand spoken lan-guage lies the way not only to the pleasures oflife, but to the truest necessities of the souland body.

Deafness is a physical bar to employmentsecond only to blindness, and bears especiallyheavily on the man who, dependent on othersfor his salary, becomes deaf in adult life.Lip-reading, or speech-reading, "that subtileart," as Dr. John Bulwer said in 1648, "whichmay inable one with an Observant Eie to seewhat any man Speaks by the moving of hisLips," is a valuable substitute for hearing, asfar as spoken language is concerned, though,like any other substitutes, it has its limita-tions. By it the sense of sight is forced tointerpret a medium for expressing thoughtwhich, throughout the history of the race, hasbeen developed for the needs of the sense ofhearing. I shall show later how imperfectlyspoken language is fitted to the requirementsof successful lip-reading.The problem of the teacher varies accordingto the class of the deaf to which his pupil be-

longs, for the deaf-mute's needs are only in



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THE EYE AS SUBSTITUTE 5part the needs of the hard-of-hearing. Mywork lies with the hard-of-hearingand bythat term I mean those who, either partly ortotally deaf, became so after having acquiredspeech and languageand it is of their prob-lem of which I shall speak particularly. Itis not only their problem; its solution becomesalso the solution of the problem of the deaf-mute after he acquires speech and language.The problem of teaching lip-reading is truly

a psychological problem. Both the eyes andthe mind must be trained, but mind-trainingis the more important factor.The difficulties for the eyes to overcome

are two: first, the obscurity of many of themovements, and second, the rapidity of theirformation. That spoken language is not welladapted to the purpose of lip-reading is evi-dent from the many sounds that are formedwithin the mouth or even in the throat. /Thediflference between vocal and non-vocal con-sonants is invisible to the eye. The aspirateh, as in "hat," cannot be seen; there is novisible difference between "hat" and "at."The consonants formed by the back of thetongue and soft palate, h, hard g, ng, are sel-dom revealed to the eye of the lip-reader; like-



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6 LIP-READINGwise, certain tongue consonants, as t, d, n,and y, present almost insuperable difficulties.Double tongue consonants, as nt, nd, It, id,are also just as indefinite and obscure in theirvisible formation.

Rapidity of the movements is another seri-ous difficulty in the way of successful lip-reading. From one-twelfth to one-thirteenthof a second is the average time per movementin ordinary speech. This is the average, butsome movements are of course slower, whileothers, particularly those for unaccented syl-lables, are much quicker.With such difficulties as these, the wonder

is that anyone can read the lips at all. Eye-training can never eliminate them, though itcan lessen them in a measure. The methodshould aim first always to study or see themovements in words or sentences, not formedsingly by themselves. Sounds pronouncedsingly all tend to be exaggerated, and many ofthem even to be grossly mispronounced.Moreover, one movement often modifies de-cidedly the appearance of another connectedwith it in a word. For example, long e usuallytends to show a slight drawing back of thecorners of the mouth, as in "thief;" but,



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THE EYE AS SUBSTITUTE 7after sh, as in "sheep," this is scarcelyvisible.

In the second place the method should aimalways to study or see the movements as thewords are pronounced quickly. It is true thatit would be easier to see them when spokenslowly, but it is also true that to produce thebest results the eye should be trained fromthe first to see things as they must always beseen in ordinary speech, and that is rapidly.And, in the third place, the method should

aim to inculcate a nearly infallible accuracyand quickness of perception of the easifermovements, leaving to the mind in largemeasure the task of supplying the hardermovements.With the eye thus trained it often happens

that the lip-reader's impression is that ofactually hearing what is said. If I put thetubes of a phonograph into my ears, so thatI can hear every word, and close my eyes,unbidden and without conscious effort thevision of the moving lips of the speaker form-ing the flow of the words passes before mymind.Although it is not possible for the eye to

see each and every movement, it is possible



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8 LIP-READINGfor the mind to grasp a complete impressionwithout even the consciousness that it has"suppKed" so many of the movements andsounds. The chief diflSculties in the way ofthe mind in lip-reading may be indicated bydescribing that type of mind which is uni-formly most successful, and that is a mindwhich is quick to respond to impressions, orquick in its reaction time, and a mind in whichthe synthetic qualities are dominant. ThediflBculties, then, are to overcome the oppositeconditions or tendencies, and the aim is todevelop the mind to the utmost along the lineof these favoring conditions.

Fortunately thought is quicker than speech.Testing myself with a selected passage thatI know by heart it takes me fifteen seconds tothink of it word by word, and thirty-fiveseconds to read it aloud. To develop quickperception, 'practise is the essential; that is,slow speech, word-by-word utterance, must beavoided, and all forms of exercise must begiven to the pupil up to the limit of speedwhich his ability will allow. This undoubtedlymakes the work harder for the time being,but it results in more rapid progress.Not only is thought quicker than speech;



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THE EYE AS SUBSTITUTE 9thought need not formulate every word to haveclear conceptions. Thought skips; thoughtlooks ahead and anticipates. So that a cor-rect understanding of an idea is possible with-out a word-for-word accuracy. That is theway the baby understands what is said to him.I would say to my little boy, when a year anda half old, "How does daddy shave himself inthe morning.'*" That he understood everyword was not possible; probably "daddy"and "shave" were the only ones he reallyknew. But that he understood what I saidhe made evident when he went through themotion of shaving his own face with hisfinger.The method of mind-training should aim to

develop this power of grasping thoughts aswholes, and to avoid strictly anything thatwill enhance the opposite tendency of demand-ing verbal accuracy before anything is under-stood at all. Minds of the latter type are literal,analytical, unimaginative. Yet there are veryfew who are altogether of this kind; mostof us, however analytical, have some syntheticpowers, some ability of putting things together,of constructing the whole from the parts, ofquick intuition. It is by developing these



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10 LIP-READINGpowers that real success in lip-reading can beattained, and it is by working along theselines that the surest way is found in the endto the understanding of every word. Eventhose who hear, often have an experience likethis: Some one will make a remark which youfail to understand; the word "what" is onyour lips, but before it is fairly uttered thewhole sentence will come to you like a flash.When this intuitive, synthetic power is highlydeveloped, the "natural-born" lip-reader isthe result.

I feel sure, from what is known of the men,that Prescott, the historian, would have easilylearned lip-reading, while the analytical Ban-croft would have found it much more difficult;that Seton Thompson would be quick to mas-ter it, and that John Burroughs would beslower; that Roosevelt would be an expert,and that Hughes would be a novice. I haverepeatedly found among my pupils that thosewho can play music readily at sight are apt,in reading the lips, for such ability impliesquick reaction time and the intuitive mind.What degree of skill can a lip-reader expect

to attain.? How long does it take.^^ Theseare natural questions, but cannot be answered



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THE EYE AS SUBSTITUTE 11categorically. What some can attain in threemonths, others cannot acquire short of a year;and the highest degree of skill, as in any art,is open only to the few. But three lessons aweek for three months will, with most pupils,give a very satisfactory and practical skill.I may be pardoned if I speak of myself. Ican sometimes understand a lecture or ser-mon, depending upon conditions of light,etc. ; less often can I understand a play. I amcalled a good lip-reader, but I know betterones. With a very few exceptions, such adegree of skill is possible to every one as tomake home life and social friendships a joyonce more, and, though it may not be aninfallible resource in business, it may for allbe an invaluable aid. Lip-reading can neverdo all that good ears ought to do, but what itcan do is almost a miracle.Two objections to lip-reading I occasionallyhear: (1) That it is too great a strain on theeyes, and (2) that, by relieving the ears fromhearing, there is a tendency to deteriorationin hearing from lack of exercise.The strain upon the eyes at first is truly

no small one; but I have repeatedly foundthat those who complain of eye-strain during



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12 LIP-READINGtheir first lessons, later never think any moreabout it. I have not strong eyes, and now,though I use them in reading the lips eveiyday and all day long, they are seldom over-tired. If the lip-reader is careful from thefirst to cease using the eyes at the first symp-tom of tire, I believe that no harm can resultand gradually the eyes will be able to do moreand more.The objection in regard to the deterioration

of hearing I believe to be the reverse of true.Dr. Albert Barnes, in "The Dietetic and Hy-gienic Gazette," of October, 1909, said: "Peo-ple with ear-strain should spare the hearingas much as possible, and, instead of strainingthe ear to catch what is said, they shouldwatch the lips more. In other words, theeyes should be called upon to help the ears."Moreover, with pupils who have enough hear-ing to hear the sound of the voice, I advisfr-and encourage them to use ears and eyes infullest cooperation, one helping the other.Under such circumstances, and also in view

of the fact that the ear involuntarily gets exer-cise with every sound that comes to it, whetherthe strain to hear is made or not, I do not seehow any harm can be done to the ears by



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THE EYE AS SUBSTITUTE 13lip-reading, and in all my experience I havenever found any evidence of such harm. Onthe contrary, several times pupils have re-ported to me an actual betterment of the hear-ing, though how much lip-reading had to dowith it and how much other conditions I donot pretend to say.

Lip-reading, then, is not a cure for deafness,nor is it even a cure for all the ills of deafness;but from some of the worst ills it is a truealleviation. It takes first place on the majorityof occasions over all mechanical devices. Forthose completely deaf, or so deaf as to makemechanical devices out of the question, lip-reading is the only resource. For those whosedeafness still allows them to hear the soundof the voice, it obviates the necessity of usingthese more or less cumbersome and inconven-ient contrivances. Even at such times whenthese devices can be used to advantage, watch-ing the lips helps to make them more usefuland more reliable. Under any circumstances,lip-reading has in it the power to make deaf-ness of whatever degree much easier to bear.



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CHAPTER IITEACHING AIMS

The preceding chapter. The Eye as a Substi-tute for Deaf Ears, tells the underlying basisfor success in lip-reading. The teacher shouldknow how to develop the requisite quahtiesin each pupil to the utmost. Every one hasthree sides, the physical, the mental, the spirit-ual. It is a truism that perfect developmentexists only when the development of each sideis symmetrical. It is so in lip-reading. Theeyes (physical), the mind, and even the soulqualities, must all have proper attention toattain the highest success possible in eachindividual case.The eyes must be trained (1) to be accurate,

(2) to be quick, (3) to retain visual impres-sions, and (4) to do their work subconsciously.The first of these requisites is so obviousthat there is perhaps a tendency to over-emphasize it in the neglect of the others. Ofcourse the eyes cannot be too accurate; the

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TEACHING AIMS 15danger is in training for accuracy alone re-gardless of other needs. To secure accuracyin lip-reading, the pupil must know exactlywhat to look for. The careful description ofeach movement tells him this; and the teachershould also show it to him on the mouth. Themovement words (see Part II, Section III,imder the description of each movement),in which each new movement is developedin contrast and in connection with previouslystudied movements, provide the best possiblematerial for training in accuracy, The con-trast words also, by showing the differencesbetween similar movements, direct the eyesto an accurate study of the decisive charac-teristics. And the practise words, giving eachnew movement in combination with all thefundamental movements, both before andafter, show how the movements are mutu-ally modified by association. Directions forusing this material are given in their properplace.Accuracy alone is not sufficient. The quick-

ness of natural speech makes it imperativethat the eyes be trained to be quick. For thisreason, from the very first, all forms of exerciseof whatever kind should be practised always



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16 LIP-READINGas rapidly as the ability of the pupil will allow.Particularly all review work should be rapid.It will be easier for the pupil to have theteacher enunciate slowly, but the rapid enun-ciation, up to the limit of the pupil's ability,will do him considerably more good.The importance of training the visual mem-

ory is clear from the fact that often the lip-reader will get the first part of a sentencefrom the last; that is, the understanding of afew words toward the end of a sentence, aidedby the memory of preceding facial move-ments, will enable the lip-reader to constructthe whole. Sentence practise is always goodfor developing this power; but at no timeshould the pupil be allowed to interrupt theteacher until either a whole sentence, or atleast a clause, has been completed. Otherpractise for developing the power of visualmemory will be found directed under thevowel and consonant exercises (see p. 253)where the pupil is required to carry three,four, or even five unrelated words in mindand to repeat them in order.

All this work for the eyes is in its essenceanalytic. The conscious work of the mindin lip-reading, however, must be synthetic.



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TEACHING AIMS 17Hence the eyes must be trained to do theirwork subconsciously. To do so, the eyes mustwork by habit, and to form these habits muchrepetition in practise is necessary. To givean exercise once may train for accuracy, butnot for subconscious accuracy. It is absolutelyessential, therefore, that the pupil and theteacher should go over and over and overthings until they are truly mastered.The essentials in training the mind are to

develop (1) synthetic ability, (2) intuition,(3) quickness, and (4) alertness.The necessity of synthetic ability has beensuflSciently explained in Chapter I. The workdirected in Chapter V, How to Use Stories,is all intended to develop synthesis, and thequestion practise as there directed is especiallyhelpful. Every kind of sentence practise isan aid, including the work directed under thatheading. Chapter X, and the Colloquial Forms(p. 282) and the Homophenous Words (p. 301.)

Closely allied with the synthetic qualityis intuition. The lip-reader who has the powerof intuitively jumping to the right conclusionshas a potent aid to synthesis. Good develop-ment practise for the intuitive powers, leadingthe mind to look for natural sequences of



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18 LIP-READINGthought, is to be found in the use of stories by,telKng them in different words (see Chapter V),in the use of words as a basis for sentencesbuilt around the thought suggested by them(see Chapter IX), in the use of sentences todevelop other sentences associated with themin idea (see Chapter X), and in conversationand in more formal talks along some chosentheme (see Chapter IV).

It is just as important for the mind to bequick as for the eyes. It sometimes happensthat the eye will see quickly but the mindwill interpret slowly. To develop quicknessof mind the teacher should insist upon aquick response in all work where the pupil isrequired to repeat what hias been said.By alertness I do not mean the same asquickness, but rather an openness of the mindto impressions and a readiness for new turnsof thought. It is not uncommon to find apupil who clings to false impressions, loth tocast them aside, even when told they arewrong. Such a pupil should have his atten-tion directed to his failing and be cautionedto guard against it at all times. The skippingpractise directed for the stories (Chapter V)and the skipping practice directed for words



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TEACHING AIMS 19(Chapter IX) and sentences (Chapter X)will all help to develop mental alertness.

In my wide experience with the deaf andhard-of-hearing it has seemed that the thingmost needed by them is access to the spiritualsprings of human life. No other class of peopleis so shut oflF from these springs, for they areto be found above all else in the mutual inter-course of soul with soul. By the fact oftheir deafness, such human companionshipis denied in very large measure. The deafare thrown upon themselves and their ownthoughts and resources. As they have ex-pressed it to me again and again, they are"hungry" for a real conversation; they are"lonely," though surrounded by family andfriends. It is not surprising that morbidness,hopelessness and the "blues," and lack ofcourage and self-confidence mark their in-creasing deafness and consequent increasingisolation.The diflficulties of the teacher with a pupil

like that are truly of a spiritual nature. Itis a hopeless task to try to make a successfullip-reader of one whose "Oh! I can't" attitudestands in the way of every achievement, unlessthat spirit of despair be supplanted by the



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20 LIP-READINGspirit of "I can" and "I will." It is truethat increasing skill in lip-reading tends todispel these morbid conditions of mind, butit is also true that these morbid conditionsstand squarely in the way of such increasingskill. The mere study of lip-reading per secannot be relied upon to banish the "blues"and lack of self-confidence and courage. So itbecomes of utmost importance for the teacherto work directly upon these spiritual condi-tions. Not obviously of course, still less bynagging; nor yet by pity, nor even by sym-pathy of the wrong kind, (though sympathyof the right kind is a powerful agent).

I can lay down rules for the training of theeye in lip-reading and rules, though moreelastic ones, for training the mind. But rulesfor developing these desired spiritual qualitiescannot so well be formulated. I think, how-ever, I can make some suggestions which willhelp guide the teacher along the road.Of course no two pupils are alike in their

spiritual qualities or spiritual needs. Theyare not all as "blue" as he whose needs Ihave been picturing. But I suppose thereis no one who cannot stand a helping Handalong the road to cheer and courage.



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TEACHING AIMS 21It is axiomatic that to impart spiritual

qualities you must have them. That is whyI regard "personality" as the most valuedasset of the teacher. A strong personalityand the power to make that personality feltas an influence toward the best things arefundamental qualities of the great teacher inany subject, and they apply with specialforce to the teacher of lip-reading.Sympathy of the right kind is strongly

needed: not the kind that turns the pupil'sthoughts more than ever on his affliction, forthat strengthens his habit of self-pity; but thekind that, while acknowledging the affliction,gives the pupil a metaphorical slap on theback, stirs him to stand by his own efforts andwork out his own salvation. Many pupilsrely on the teacher to do all the work, make allthe effort. To say nothing of their lack ofeffort, their very attitude is an insuperablebar to achievement. Win over such a pupilto work with you and half the battle is won.Meet every mood of discouragement with

cheer and hope. Don't be sparing of praisefor good work well done. Don't be impatientwith failure, especially if the effort be true.Hold up the bright side of the picture always.



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%% LIP-READINGEncourage by example of what others haveachieved. These are some of the essentialsin the teacher's spiritual attitude toward thepupil.Be the friend of your pupil, not merely his

teacher. Take an interest in the things thatinterest him, and gain his interest, too, inthe things that lie close to your own heart.Friendship opens many a door to helpfulnessthat otherwise would remain closed. Be hisfriend, but don't forget that you are histeacher too. Don't let friendship make you"easy with the pupil," nor cause you to letdown the bars to indolence and weaken thespur to faithful effort. Expect, and let yourwhole attitude demand, the pupil's best.The teacher who works in this spirit with

his pupils will have the joy not only of seeingthem advance more quickly in the art of hp-reading, but also and especially of seeing themlive happier, cheerier, braver, and more usefullives.



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CHAPTER IIITO THE FBIENDS OF THE DEAF

It is not easy to be deaf; it is a mighty hardthing; and it is often made harder for us bythe unnecessary friction between us and ourfriends arising from the fact of our deafness.That is why I ask you, the friends of the deaf,to consider some of the ways and means bywhich you can help to make our lot easierfor us. I do not mean to scold or find fault,but to helpto help you to help us. If attimes I speak plainly, even bluntly, I trustyou will pardon it in view of my purpose.

If it is a question of blame, we ourselvesmust assume our share of it. It is often ourattitude that makes things hard for bothyou and us. For one thing, we are prone tobe too sensitive. And yet that is the mostnatural thing in the world. I suppose everyman or woman who carries a physical afflictionis more or less sensitive. The lame man, theblind man, the humpback, the stammerer,

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24 LIP-READINGall have a fellow feeling in this regard. Butthe pecuharity of deafness is that it has theunhappy faculty of drawing down ridiculeupon its victim.

If a lame man stumbles and falls, nobodylaughs; everybody rushes to help him to hisfeet. If a blind man runs into a stone wall,every one is all sympathy. But let a deaf manmake a mistake, due to his deafness, andeverybody laughs. Yes, I know they do notlaugh at him; they laugh at his mistake. Ifit were only easy for him to realize that, itwould save him intense mortification. Isuppose there is not one of us who has notfelt at some time or other that he wished thefloor would open and swallow him up.When I was at college, one of the membersof the glee club was very bald; but he wore awig. At the concerts he sang a solo:

" I'd rather have fingers than toes,I'd rather have eyes than a nose;And as for my hair,I'm so glad it's all there,I'll be sore as can be when it goes."

And with the last word he would snatchthe wig from his head. Of course everybody



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FRIENDS OF THE DEAF 25laughed; but the point is, that he laughedtoith them. If we who are deaf would cultivatethe saving grace of laughing at our mistakes,it would take all the sting out of them.On the other hand, there is the danger thatthose who laugh at us may get the worst of itthemselves. John Wanamaker tells the storyof a deaf man named Brown, who was dis-posed to stinginess."He never married, but he was very fondof society, so one day he felt compelled togive a banquet to the many ladies and gentle-men whose guest he had been."They were amazed that his purse-strings

had been unloosed so far, and they thoughthe deserved encouragement; so it was arrangedthat he should be toasted. One of the mostdaring young men of the company was selected,for it took a lot of nerve to frame and proposea toast to so unpopular a man as Miser Brown.But the young man rose. And this is whatwas heard by every one except Brown, whonever heard anything that was not roaredinto his ear:

"'Here's to you. Miser Brown. You areno better than a tramp, and it is suspectedthat you got most of your money dishonestly.



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26 LIP-READINGWe trust that you may get your just desertsyet, and land in the penitentiary.'

"Visible evidences of applause made Brownsmile with gratification. He got upon hisfeet, raised his glass to his lips, and said,'The same to you, sir.'"

Inattention is one of our chief faults. Nothearing what is going on around us, we areapt to withdraw into our own thoughts; andthen, when some one does speak to us, weare far away. We need to be more on thealert than others, just because we cannothear; our quickness of eye must make up forour aural slowness. To you, our friends, Iwish to make the suggestion that you drawour attention, not by touching us, not by aviolent waving of the arm or perhaps thehandkerchief, not by shouting to us, but bya quiet movement of the hand within ourrange of vision. We are sensitive. Any-thing that brings our affliction into the lime-light of the observation of others cuts like alash; and there are few things we dislike morethan having our attention attracted by apoke or a pull, though a gentle touch is some-times not disagreeable.Another of our faults is a tendency to se-



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FRIENDS OF THE DEAF 27clusiveness. We not only draw into our ownthoughts when others are present; we oftenretire from company into the solitude of abook or magazine, or avoid company alto-gether. It is a rudeness, I know, to pick up abook and read when in the company of others;yet it is a rudeness that even our friends oughtsympathetically to condone. And, moreover,I ask you which is the greater rudeness, thatof our taking up our book or that of yourpassing around the sweets of conversation andoffering none to us? Truly, we ought not toseclude ourselves, but we need your help.We have our faults, and so have you, andyour chief fault, as far as we are concerned,is that you do not realize what it means to bedeaf. Occasionally I hear some one say hewishes he might be deaf for a little while;he would be glad if some of the disturbingnoises might be eliminated. Oh, deafness isnot so bad, he opines; it has its advantageswhich I do not deny; but they are not theadvantages he has in mind. I sometimes wishthat such a person might truly be deaf forsay a year without the knowledge that at theend of that time his hearing would be restoredto him. Then he would find the one-time



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28 LIP-READINGdisturbing noises had become music in hisears, and that the advantages of deafness,provided he had met his aflBiction in the rightspirit, were of a spiritual and not of a physicalnature.

It is thoughtlessness, due to ignorance ofconditions, that is the cause of most of thetroubles between you and us. It is not sel-fishnessnot usually, at any rate^but justthat you do not stop to think. And thatis why I am writing to you: to help you tounderstand and show the same thoughtfulnesstoward us as you instinctively would showtoward the blind.

There is one book that every friend of thedeaf ought to read, "Deafness and Cheerful-ness," by the Rev. A. W. Jackson. Intendedfor the deaf themselves, it has a still greatervalue, I believe, for their friends. The littlebrochure, "The Deaf in Art and the Art ofBeing Deaf," by Grace EUery Channing, isalso good. Such reading will help you to putyourselves in our place.

It is easy enough for us to imagine whatlameness and what blindness mean; probablymost of us have been more or less lame atsome time or other, and we are all of us blind



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FRIENDS OF THE DEAF 29when in the dark. But it is a much moredifficult thing for the hearing to imagine thefull calamity of deafness. Think how muchof the sweetness of life comes to you throughyour ears. The joys of companionship andfellowship with other men and women aredependent on our understanding what theyhave to say. Try for one week to imaginewhat it would be like if every spoken wordthat comes to you were lost. Think eachtime, "Suppose I had not heard that," andwhen you have finally comprehended what theworld of silence is, your sympathetic under-standing will go a long way toward lighteningour cross.

If you could really put yourselves in ourplace, one of the first things you would realizeis that there are few things that so irritate asto have you shout at us. It is so unnecessaryand uncalled for, and makes us the center ofunenvied observation. We will in fact under-stand you better if instead of shouting youenunciate clearly and distinctly and makeyour voice as vibrant as may be possible.In a general conversation we greatly need

your help. A certain deaf man expressedthe unuttered view of many another when



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30 LIP-READINGhe said, "I enjoy a conversation with oneperson, but when a third breaks in upon us,h enters the room with him." In ninecases out of ten the deaf man is given no sharein general conversation, and for all purposesof social enjoyment he might almost as wellbe marooned on a desert island.

General conversation is hard for us to under-stand, even though we be skillful readers ofthe lips. As we all know, it is very mucheasier to follow conversation when we knowthe subject. When two people are talkingwe may say that each has a one-half share;when three, each has a one-third share, andso on. This is true provided all can hear.But if one is deaf, while it is still true he hasa half-share when only two are talking, whenthree are talking he has no share at all! Ifonly the others would talk to him! But no,they talk to each other, and he is out of it.My advice to you, then, in a general conversa-tion, is: "Talk to us." The others will hearyou, and it will give us the benefit of sharingin the conversation, of knowing the subject,and of greatly increased ease of understand-ing.

There are times, I know, when it is not



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FRIENDS OF THE DEAF 31possible to talk to us, or others may be talkingwho have not the thoughtfulness to do so.Then what we ask of you is not to rehash theconversation after the topic has been talkedout, but by a word or two at the beginning toindicate to us the subject.The suggestions I have given you so far

will apply whether we are lip-readers or not.Now I wish to give you some suggestionsthat will help us in our endeavor to hear withthe eyes. For one thing, let the light be onyour face, not on ours. It requires only alittle thoughtfulness to see to this importantrequisite. In my own family such thoughtful-ness has become so instinctive as to be ahabit, and the endeavor to get the light rightis always a first thought when any of thefamily are talking to me.The exaggeration of the facial movements,"mouthing," usually arises on your part from

the best intentions to help us understand.You mean well, but as a matter of fact youare making it harder for us. Such exaggera-tion throws the mouth out of all naturalmovement and formation, and makes it im-possible for us to know just what we do see.All we ask of you is that you speak distinctly,



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32 LIP-READINGand then the movements of your lips andtongue will take care of themselves.

Closely associated with your endeavor tohelp us by exaggeration is the endeavor tohelp through a word-by-word manner of talk-ing. The human mind naturally takes in thethought as a whole and not piecemeal, oneword at a time. It is exasperation to ask usto understand in that way. How much of thethought of this printed page would you get ifyou stopped to think about each word sepa-rately? Like the man who could not see thewoods for the trees, so when^you^talkthis^way we cannot see the thought for thewords. If it is necess0,ry to speak slowly tous, let it be smoothly, connectedly, and notword by word.Another of your well-meant efforts to help

us consists in repeating for us a single wordthat we have failed to understand; it is mucheasier for us to get the word in its thoughtconnection in a sentence. For the same rea-son, the long phrase is usually easier thanthe short phrase; as, for example, "Will youget me a drink of water?" presents muchless difficulty than "Will you get me adrink?"



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FRIENDS OF THE DEAF 33In your choice of words, try to choose if

possible those that have the most movementof the lips. If you want to say "a quarter,"choose the words "twenty-five cents." For"fifty cents," however, you should say "halfa dollar," for not only does the latter phrasehave more lip-movement, but it is also truethat "fifty cents " might easily be mistaken for"fifteen cents." As another example, noticeas you say the sentences how much plainerand more pronounced the lip-movements arefor "What beautiful weather we are having"than for " Isn't it a nice day? "

Proper names are always hard, because wehave as a rule no context to help us. Whenyou introduce us to strangers, be careful tospeak the name clearly and distinctly directto us. Not infrequently I find my hearingfriends introducing me with a decided empha-sis on my own name, as though it were verynecessary that I should understand that,and with the name of my new acquaintanceso rnumbled that I do not know whether he isTeufelsdrockh or Smith. Again, when inconversation you are referring to some oneby name, a short explanatory phrase willoften help us wonderfully; as, "I like to deal



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34 LIP-READINGat Scudder and Singer's the meat market, youknow."

I have presented to you some of our prob-lems, believing that you can help us. Yet Irealize that you cannot do it all^that wemust cooperate. And the first thing for usto do in the way of self-help is frankly toacknowledge our deafness. I think no greatermistake can be made from the standpointof our own comfort and peace of mind thanthat of trying to conceal the fact that wecannot hear. It is not only sensitiveness, itis also a feeling of shame, as though we haddone some wrong, that impels us to try tohide our failing ears. We need the adviceof the lunatic in the story. All day long afisherman had been sitting on the bank of thestream and had not caught a thing. All daylong the lunatic had watched him from awindow in the neighboring insane asylum.At last the man in the window could endureit no longer, and he shouted to the fisherman:"Hey, there, you poor fool! Come on in-side!"So we need to come on inside the ranks towhich we belong, frankly, realizing that it is

no crime to be deaf, and then try by every



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FRIENDS OF THE DEAF 35means in our power to make our lives normaland sane. That is what we are striving to do,and we ask your help that our burden ofdeafness may be lightened as much as possi-ble.



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CHAPTER IVCONVERSATION PRACTISE

The end and aim of all lip-reading practiseis facility in understanding conversation. Butto this end conversation practise alone is notenough. It is common to hear a pupil say:"I have practise in talking with people all thetime; I don't need any other practise." If youwere studying music on the piano, would it besuflficient only to play pieces, and never scales,chords, and exercises? If you were studyingFrench, would it be sufficient only to converse,and to know nothing of forms, idiom, andgranimar?

Skill in reading the lips certainly can begained by conversation practise alone, butneither so speedily nor so thoroughly as whensuch conversation practise is supplemented bythe practise of exercises of the various kindsthat have been explained in my previouspapers. Conversely it is true that the prac-tise of those exercises alone will not sufficiently

36



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38 LIP-READINGIt should be the same in lip-reading, for

the mind has not the time nor the power tothink of the elements and to construct theidea therefrom, to conduct consciously aprocess of analysis and synthesis, at the sametime. In all conversation practise thereforelet the elements take care of themselves andfocus your effort on the endeavor to graspthe thought.There are more ways than one of securing

conversation practise. The beginning shouldbe in forming the habit of always watchingthe mouth, not the eyes, of a speaker. Forsome the formation of this habit is difficult,but it must be formed if success is to be at-tainedit is one of the essentials. Eventhough you hear the sound of the voice, eventhough you actually hear every word, watchthe mouth too. The eyes are expressive, andwith many people so is the whole face. But nopart of the face reveals so much as the mov-ing lips and tongue. Moreover, though yourgaze is focused on the mouth, all the rest ofthe face is visible to you. The most skillfullip-reader would find his difficulties doubledif he could see only the mouth and the restof the face were masked; but if he could see



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CONVERSATION PRACTISE 39the rest of the face and not the mouth, thediflSculties would be increased a hundred-fold.Always watching the mouth means morethan watching only when you are personally

addressed. It means watching it in generalconversation, watching it in public places,watching it in the case of a preacher or lec-turer, in short, always watching it. If youare very deaf and still with little skill in read-ing the lips, you will probably understandonly words here and there, and stray sentences,unless the conversation is turned directly toyou. But every little counts and is a steptoward more. If only slightly deaf, and ifyou hear the sound of the voice more or less,you should find real help in this habit, evenfrom the first; for your eyes will be cooperat-ing with your ears, one helping the other,and much that either would lose alone will beunderstood.More definite practise can be obtained when

you and some one friend are talking together.If your friend is like many others, he willpersist in talking loud, a habit formed be-fore the days of your endeavor to read thelips. Don't let him. Over and over again,probably, you will have to tell him "not to



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40 LIP-READINGtalk so loud;" he forgets. But continue totell him until the new habit is formed of talk-ing to you more softly,not in a whisper,I do not mean that, nor even in a low tone,but naturally, or so that you hear something,enough with the help of your eyes to under-stand, but not enough to understand withoutsuch help. Such a habit will mean for himgreatly increased ease of conversing withyou, increased delight in such conversationfor both of you, and good lip-reading practisefor yourself.When talking with two or more friends, theresponsibility on your part to help yourselfis a serious one. In a previous chapter Ihave said: "It is very much easier to followconversation when we know the subject.When two people are talking we may saythat each has a one-half share; when three,each has a one-third share, and so on. Thisis true provided all can hear. But if oneis deaf, while it is still true he has a half sharewhen only two are talking, when three aretalking he has no share at all! If only theothers would talk to him! But no, they talkto each other, and he is out of it."

It is not an easy task for us to "butt in" and



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CONVERSATION PRACTISE 41divert that one-third share to us, where it be-longs; we need and ought to have help fromthe others. But it is fundamentally our task,and by performing it as we should we gainpractise, and pleasure, and a great victory.

All these ways of securing practise in con-versation are casual, yet not for that reason tobe despised. They should not, however, beallowed to usurp the place of definite conver-sation practise, practise in which you do nothear a sound. In this case, if you are onlyslightly deaf, it will be necessary for yourfriend or assistant to talk very, very softlylow voice is better than a whisperand foryou not to sit too close, and, perhaps, to put abit of cotton in your ears. Choose themesfor your conversation in which you are mutu-ally interested, and then let it take its course.Only you must remember that conversationimplies give and take; you must do yourshare, and not expect a monologue from yourassistant.Some bits of advice for your general inter-

course with people will be useful. Do not getinto the habit of demanding that you under-stand every word. Try to cultivate the powerof grasping the thought, of constructing the



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42 LIP-READINGsentence from one or more key words. Letthe speaker continue talking until you catchthe idea, and do not interrupt unless you feelthat what is being said is something you oughtto know about. In a general conversation,much can be lost (so to speak) without losingmuch. Try to follow the sense of what is said,rather than to "dig out" each word. If youlose a word, do not stop to think what theword was, for as surely as you do, you willlose all that follows. What is lost, is lost;never mind it; but continue to try to followthe thought. So long as you do follow thethought successfully, do not interrupt. Youshould, of course, interrupt if you lose thethought completely. Though it does not pay,as a rule, if we lose a word here and there, tointerrupt the speaker, we must be very carefulnot to carry " bluffing " too far. To pretend tounderstand, when really scarcely anything isunderstood, is inexcusable.The necessity of a good light on the speaker's

face should be realized. A light that makesvisible the action of the tongue is a greathelp. A light from above, such as a high gas-light, will not do this; the light should be asnearly as possible on a level with the face. If



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CONVERSATION PRACTISE 43you find the speaker's face is in the shadow,either change your own position to a morefavorable one, or ask the speaker to changehis.Rapid and indistinct utterance will be the

root of much of your trouble in understanding.Sometimes if you will yourself adopt a care-ful, distinct and rather slow utterance, youwill find that there is a tendency to followsuit on the part of the person talking to you.This subterfuge is not always successful, butit is always worth trying.

Necessity has been called the mother of in-vention. It is also the mother of achieve-ment. The achievements of all lip-readerswill be surer and more rapid, the more theyforce upon themselves the necessity of un-derstanding with the eyes. We can best laythis necessity upon ourselves at first in ourhome life. As far as may be possible, com-munication with members of the family shouldbe by sight. Requests for diflFerent articlesat the table may quickly be learned and un-derstood in this way. And at all other timesthe endeavor should be made not to dependupon the ears when the eyes can serve.



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CHAPTER VHOW TO USE STORIES

To know how to use stories and reading-books for practise, we must know why weuse them. There is such a thing as practisingin the wrong way. In spite of the opinionheld by some that "just practise" is all thatis necessary, it is not so much the amountof practise as it is the kind of practise thatproduces the best results. There are rightways and wrong ways of doing everything,and in lip-reading it is possible to practise insuch a way as incidentally to do absolute harm.One hour of the right kind of practise is worthfive hours of the wrong kind.Keep in mind that the aim of all practise

is to acquire skill in understanding con-versation. In ordinary conversation peopletalk rapidly. No lip-reader, however skill-ful, can be absolutely sure of seeing everyword. But he can be sure of understandingall the thought, even though words be lost.



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HOW TO USE STORIES 45The best lip-readers are invariably those whohave the power of grasping the thought as awhole, and not through a word-by-word de-ciphering of the sentence. And in the end,the surest way of understanding practicallyevery word, is not through the word-by-wordmethod, but is through developing this syn-thetic power of constructing the whole fromthe parts. That is, if the whole thought isunderstood, the visual memory of the restof the sentence will most surely, and usuallysubconsciously, supply the missing words.The chief value of stories and reading mat-

ter as material for lip-reading practise liesin their use toward developing the syntheticqualities mentioned; to develop the righthabits of mind^the mental attitude that isquickest to understand conversationstoriesare invaluable.There are stories and stories. Fundamen-tally the style should be as near the colloquialas possible, the style in which people talkrather than in which they write. For thisis the style that gives us the natural se-quences of thought, the natural associationsof ideas. It is not simply that the story shouldhave a good deal of conversation in it, but



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46 LIP-READINGthat throughout the sentences should besimple, not involved, and the sequence ofthought direct from step to step. Manystories and anecdotes in the newspapers andmagazines provide excellent material. In thechoice of books, I have found books writtenfor children most available, as the style is aptto be simpler, more natural, more direct thanthose written for adults.

I advise beginning with short stories oranecdotes of about 100 to 150 words. I givea story here as an example:

A LESSON m PHYSIOLOGYA teacher was explaining to her class what

an organ of the body is. She told them thatan organ of the body is a part of the body setapart for some special use. For example,the eye is the organ of sight, the ear of hear-ing, etc.

After she had gone over the work prettythoroughly, she wanted to find out how muchher pupils knew of the subject. So she askedthem who could tell what an organ of the bodyreally is.For some time there was no reply. Then



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HOW TO USE STORIES 47the smallest boy in the room held up hishand. "I know," he said. "I see with myeye-organ, I hear with my ear-organ, I smellwith my nose-organ, I eat with my mouth-organ, and I feel with my hand-organ."The steps for the student to follow in

practising this story are as follows:(1) Read the story over once to yourself.The help of memory is necessary to a beginnerif the story is to be practised in the "natural"way. To follow reading is much harder thanto follow conversation; some can never fol-low reading unless helped by memory, thoughthey may be able to understand conversationreadily. In conversation the mind more orless consciously anticipates the thought, andsometimes even the words. In the reading-practise with stories, the memory helps themind to do this. But memory should nothelp any more than may be necessary; and so,if you find that memory seems to help verymuch, read the selected story one day andpractise it the next, and after a while you mayeven try practising a story you have read aweek before, or even without reading it at all.

(2) Have some friend or assistant read the



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48 LIP-READINGstory to you, in a tone so low that you do nothear a sound. First your assistant shouldread the story to himself to gain familiaritywith it, and then in reading to you shouldread as he would talk, that is, in the col-loquial rather than the recitative style. Onthis first reading, you should endeavor, withthe help of your memory and of the wordsyou may see here and there, to follow thegeneral thought of the story. Do not in-terrupt the reader, but let him read the storyto the end, whether you understand muchor little. Should you, at the end, have un-derstood very little, read the story again toyourself and try once more in the same way,that is without interruption. If, however,you succeed in following the general thought,then

(3) Let the story be read to you again,and this time you should interrupt if you donot get the thought of every sentence and everyclause. In which case the whole sentenceor clause should be repeated for you. Do not,however, interrupt for every word, providedyou have seen enough of the words to get theidea of the sentence. It is necessary to trainthe mind in the habit of grasping the whole



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HOW TO USE STORIES 49from the parts, and there is no better way for abeginner to do it than by using stories inthis manner. If after two or three trialsyou fail to understand the thought, yourassistant should let you read the printedsentence, and then you should try it again fromhis lips.

(4) By this time memory will be helpingyou considerably, and with such help youshould try for absolute verbal accuracy asthe story is read to you again. Do not, how-ever, try to understand word by word as yougo along, but continue to try for the sentenceor clause as a whole; if the thought, aided byyour visual memory, does not suggest to youevery word in the sentence, let it be repeated.But do not interrupt in the middle of a clause,for frequently the latter part of it will giveyou the clue to the whole. And again, donot repeat the sentences after your assistant;the habit of repetition is in itself a bad habit,but is especially bad in that it tends to effectthe worse habit of demanding a literal word-by-word accuracy before anything is under-stood at all; that is, it places the emphasison the words instead of upon the thought.But it is yours to be honest with yourself



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60 LIP-READINGand with your assistant and to let him knowif you are not sure you understand, so thathe can repeat until you are sure. He, in re-peating, should say, not the single words youmay have failed to see, but always the wholeclause, the purpose being to have these wordssuggested to the mind by the natural thoughtassociation rather than by word formations.(5) The next step is to have the story readvery rapidly to you; the aim is to train theeye and mind to quick comprehension; forsuch comprehension is absolutely essential tothe successful understanding of conversation.You'should interrupt forthe thought, though bythis time you ought to be able to see almosteverything, for memory will be helping greatly.But the value of this rapid practise is notlost even though you know the story by heart.

(6) Now, closing the book, your assistantshould tell you the story in his own words.Let him add detail and give as much changein the wording as he can. As an example,I give herewith "A Lesson in Physiology"thus changed:

A teacher was talking to her pupils aboutthe diflFerent organs of the body. She told



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HOW TO USE STORIES 51them that an organ of the body is a specialpart of the body. And she told them verycarefully about the eyes, and the ears, thenose, the mouth, and the hand. And then,after she had told them all about it, she wantedto find out how much they remembered. Soshe asked them. But nobody replied."Oh!" she said, "I am sure some of youmust know what an organ of the body is.Come now, all who know raise your hands."The smallest boy in the room put his hand

up, "I know, teacher," he said."Well, tell us then," said the teacher.

"What is an organ of the body.?"And the boy replied: "I smell with my nose-organ, I see with my eye-organ, I hear withmy ear-organ, I eat with my mouth-organ,and I feel with my hand-organ."As in the previous work, you should always

try to grasp the sentence, or the thought, as awhole. Do not repeat after your assistant;but interrupt if you fail to understand, andlet him repeat. Perhaps at first you may findthe changed wording more difficult than theoriginal story with which you are familiar.But surely in time you will find your assistant's



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52 LIP-READINGown wording easier than the original form,which is always a good sign. For it is easier,and if you are really reading the lips and notsimply following from your memory of thewords, you ought to understand the colloquialform better than the written.

(7) Questions are an important part ofconversation; practise in answering questionstherefore is essential. This practise is readilygiven by basing the questions on the story.The questions should be natural, and at firstrather simple. The words and the phrasesof the story may well be re-used in formingthe questions. You should not endeavor torepeat the question after your assistant;to do so would require a word-for-word un-derstanding of it. But such an understandingis not necessary in order to answer a greatmany questions; if a few words suggestingthe thought be grasped, the question canbe answered intelligently. This is so overand over again in conversation, and thereforeit is the habit of mind, the mental attitudetoward questions, that the lip-reader shouldcultivate. So always answer the questionin this practise, if only the thought be imder-stood.



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HOW TO USE STORIES 53I give a few questions, base3 on the story

previously quoted, as examples: What wasthe teacher explaining to her class? Whatdid she tell them an organ of the body is?What examples did she give them? What didshe want to find out, after she had told themall about it? How long before she had areply? Who raised his hand at last? Whatdid he say he saw with? What did he smellwith? What did he do with his mouth-organ? How did he feel?

(Aside to your assistant: If you form yourquestions so that they must be answered by astatement and not by "y^s" or "no," yourpupil will find that he cannot "bluff" in hisreplies.)

(8) Still another way of practising storiesis by having your assistant skip around fromsentence to sentence. The chief value ofthis practise lies in training the mind tojump quickly from one thought to another.Therefore do not attempt to repeat the sen-tences after your assistant, but indicate by anod of the head that you have understood thethought (not necessarily every word), so thathe may quickly read you another sentence.If you do not understand, let him repeat.



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54 LIP-READINGStories used in the ways advised are in-

tended, not for eye-training, but to train themind in the habits that will help you mostto understand conversation. Training themind along the right lines is even more im-portant than training the eyes.



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CHAPTER VITHE STUDY OF THE MOVEMENTS

The labial and other formations for thedifferent sounds appear on the face not as po-sitions but as movements. That which isformed and gone again in 1-12 to 1-13 of asecondthe average length of time for eachsound formation in colloquial utterancecanhardly be called a position. And any studyof the sounds as positions, that is of the soundsformed singly and held, is based on a falseconception of the requirements of eye-trainingfor purposes of lip-reading. The only trueway of studying the sounds is by observingthe formations as they occur in words, that is,the movements for the sounds rather than thepositions. Thus, if the student wishes to studythe formation of long oo, he should take a wordcontaining it, as moon, and concentrate hisattention on the oo as he says the whole word.There are two other reasons why the sounds

should be studied in words and not singly by



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56 LIP-READINGthemselves. For not only is this the onlytrue way of seeing the formations as move-ments, but also (first) it is the only true wayof seeing the movements when formed natur-ally, without exaggeration, and (second) it isthe only way to avoid for many sounds agross mispronunciation. Almost any soundtends to be "mouthed" or exaggerated whenpronounced alone, and some sounds, such asw and r cannot be correctly pronounced aloneexcept by the expert. The tendency for thenon-expert in pronouncing w by itself wouldbe to say "double-yoo." But put the soundin a word, as "wet," and you do not say"double-yoo-et." The sound of / wouldtend to be "eflF," but for "five" you do notsay "eflSve." The safe, the sure way, there-fore, of studying sound movements is alwaysto study the formations as they occur inwords.A word may be said about the use of pic-tures * in the study of the sounds : No move-ment can be shown by a picture, hence pic-tures can have no value as a means of practise.

* It is an interesUng fact that pictures of the mouth illustratingthe vowel sounds were used in a book for instruction in lip-reading,by F. M. B. von Helmont, published at Sulzbach, Bavaria, 1667.



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THE STUDY OF THE MOVEMENTS 57However, though all sounds are movements,vowels partake more of the nature of shapesthan consonants, and these shapes can beshown by pictures. But the value of the pic-tures is as an aid to a clearer exposition of thevowel characteristics and not at all as a meansof practise. Consonants are so purely move-ments, and are moreover so much more read-ily described than vowels, that pictures ofthem at the best can render no help, whileon the contrary they may easily lead to falseimpressions.The method of learning the movements in-

volves, first, a clear conception of their char-acteristics, and, second, much practise in theobservation of them. The aim of the practiseis to make the recognition of the sound move-ments a subconscious act, that is, by muchrepetition to make the association of certainmovements with certain sounds a habit,something which we do without the conscious-ness of eflFort or concentration. Such habitsof association can be formed only by repetitionin practise; when formed, the mind is leftfree to concentrate on the thought of thespeaker, not on how he is forming his speech,but on what he is saying.



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58 LIP-READINGI had a letter the other day from one of my

pupils, in which she said: "I certainly do verywell in reading the lips, but I don't know how Ido it." And there is no more necessity thatshe should know how than there is that thehearing should know how they hear. Thosewho hear know the different sounds; only inlistening, they never stop to think of them.Nor should the lip-reader think of the differentmovements, but should concentrate on thespeaker's thought.

It is analogous to the way in which we readthe printed page. We do not think of eachletter, nor even of each word, but rather of thethought conveyed. Should we stop and spellout each word, we should have at best only avague idea of what we were reading. Just aswe have made our knowledge and recognitionof the printed letters a matter of habit,performed subconsciously, so should we en-deavor to make our recognition of the soundmovements.

Perfection in this ability to see the soundsis impossible, and for two reasons: First,because no two mouths are just the same, and,second, because some of the movements are soslight and quick that the eye, while it may see



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THE STUDY OF THE MOVEMENTS 59them sometimes, cannot be sure of alwaysseeing them.No two mouths are just the same; some are

very easy and some are very hard, with alldegrees of diflBculty in between. And yet allmouths do conform to certain general laws inthe formation of the movements. It is sim-ilar to the peculiarities of handwriting; whileno two handwritings are the same, and whilesome are easily legible and some read onlywith great difficulty, everybody conforms,or tries to conform, to certain general lawsin the formation of the letters.The second reason why perfection in seeing

the sounds is not possible is because of thegreat obscurity of some of the movements.The difference between vocal and non-vocalconsonants is invisible in ordinary speech;"bat" and "pat," for example, look exactlythe same. The obscure tongue consonants,as t, d, and n, cannot be seen with any degreeof dependability. The palatal consonants,k, hard g, ng, the eye sees very rarely. Someof the vowels, as short *, short e, long a, arehard to see and the eye cannot be always cer-tain of them.The way to practise for these difficult



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60 LIP-READINGsounds is not by an exaggeration of theirmovements. It is a waste of time to try tomake the eye See by "mouthing" what cannotbe seen in ordinary conversation. The aimshould be to know these diflScult sounds aswell as possible when pronounced naturally,but not to waste energy in striving for an im-possible perfection. Also it should be to knowthe easier movements with an almost infallibleaccuracy, leaving largely to the mind the taskof supplying the difficult ones from the thoughtof the sentence.



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CHAPTER VIIVOWELS

Vowels are formed fundamentally by thetongue, but tor the eye of the lip-reader theyare revealed chiefly by the lips. There arethree groups of vowel movementsiMl) Thosein which the lips tend to be rounded", or drawntogether, or puckered; (2) those in which thelips at the corners tend to be drawn back orextended; and (3) those in which the lips areneither puckered nor extended, but are simplyopened naturally, and are lax, or relaxedT\Under each of these three groups are to befound in colloquial speech three widths ofopening between the upper and lower lips,namely, a narrow opening, a medium, and awide. The pictures of the vowels will help thestudent to understand the peculiarities asdescribed.

Puckered VowelsLong doPuckered-Narrow-For the sound of long oo, as in "coon," ob-

serve that the lips are drawn together or61



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62 LIP-READINGpuckered, and that the opening between theupper and lower lips is very narrow.

Short 00Puckered-MediumFor the sound of short 06, as in "good," the

lips are puckered, but the opening between theupper and lower lips is wider than for long do,though still not wide; that is, the opening ismedium. AwPuckered-WideFor the sound of aw, as in "cawed," the

lips are slightly puckered, and the openingbetween the lips is the widest of the puckeredvowels. Other sounds having the same move-ment are o in "orb" and usually o in "ore."

Relaxed VowelsShort %Relaxed-Narrow

For the sound of short i, as in "kid," thelips have the natural or relaxed movement, andthe opening between the lips is narrow.

Short aRelaxed-MediumFor the sound of short m, as in "cut," the

lips are relaxed, and the opening between theupper and lower Ups is neither narrow norwide, but is medium.



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VOWELS 63AhRelaxedr-Wide

For the sound of ah, as in "cart," the lipsare relaxed, and the opening between the lipsis the widest of the relaxed vowels. Short o,as in "cot," usually has this relaxed widemovement.

Extended VowelsLong eExtended-Narrow

For the sound of long e, as in "keen," thelips are slightly drawn back, or extended, atthe corners, and the opening between theupper and lower lips is narrow.

Short eExtended-MediumFor the sound of short e, as in "get," the

lips are slightly extended at the corners, andthe opening between the lips is neither nar-row nor wide, but is medium.. The a, asin "care," also has this extended-mediummovement.

Short aExtended-WideFor the sound of short a, as in "cat," the

lips are slightly extended at the corners, andthe opening between the lips is the widest ofthe extended vowels.



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CHAPTER VIIICONSONANTS

Consonant movements are at once easierand more difficult than the vowel movements;that is, there are seven out of eleven consonantmovements that can be so well learned that theexpert lip-reader sees them practically everytime, and these movements are less subjectthan the vowels to the personal peculiarities ofthe speaker. But consonant movements arequicker than vowel movements, and for manyof the consonant movements there are two ormore sounds having the same visible char-acteristics. For example, p, b, and m, in "pie,""by," and "my," look alike, as do also/ and v,in "few" and "view." This gives rise to aconsiderable group of so-called homophenouswords, words that look very similar or alike;methods of dealing with this difficulty will betreated later.

Consonants may be divided into threegroups: (1) those that are revealed by the lip

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CONSONANTS 65movement, (2) those revealed by the tonguemovement, and (3) those revealed by thecontext, being seen by the mind rather thanby the eye.

Consonants Revealed by LipsP, b, mLips-Shut

For p, in "pie," b, in "by," and m, in "my,"the lips open from a shut position. This shutposition is the characteristic that reveals thesethree sounds. It is the same for each in or-dinary, rapid speech; the sounds must betold one from the other by the context.

F, VLip-to-TeethFor/, in "few," and v, in "view," the center

of the lower lip touches the upper teeth. Bothsounds look the same and must be told apartby the context.

Wh, wPuckered-VariableFor wh, in "what," and w, in "wet," the lips

are puckered, very much as for long oo; butthe degree of puckering is more variable, beinggreater in slow and careful speech, and less inrapid colloquial utterance. (Wh and w, being



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66 LIP-READINGconsonants, are seldom confused with long oo,which is a vowel, because consonants andvowels are rarely interchangeable in words;for example, though oo, in "moon," looksmuch Kke w, it could not be mistaken for w,since mwn substituting w for oo, does notmake a word.)

RPuckered-CornersFor r, in "reef," before a vowel, the lips

show a drawing together or puckering at thecorners. The contrast of "three" and "thee"will help to show this. After a vowel, as in"arm," r tends to be slurred and will com-monly show no movement whatever. Ifmore carefully pronounced, however, it mayshow a slight puckering at the corners.

S, zTremor-at-CornersFor s, in "saw," and z, in "zone," the

muscles just outside the corners of the mouthare tightened or drawn, causing a slighttremulous movement there. This movementis, at first, hard to see, but when once thor-oughly learned it becomes comparativelyeasy. An additional help will be found inthat the teeth are very close together, closer



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CONSONANTS 67than for any otHer sound. The movementon the whole is very much Hke that for longe, extended-narrow; but it is very rarelyconfused with the e movement, for ^ is a voweland s and z are consonants.

Sh, zh, ch, jLips-ProjectedFor sh, in "sham," zh (the z, in "azure" has

the sound of zh), ch, in "chap," and j, in"jam," the lips are thrust forward or pro-jected.

Consonants Revealed by TongueThTongue-to-Teeth

For th, in "thin," and "then," the pointof the tongue shows either between the teethor just behind the upper teeth.

LPdnted-Tongue-to-GumFor I, in "leaf," the point of the tonguetouches the upper gum. Being formed withinthe mouth, this sound cannot always be seen,though the trained eye sees it frequently.

T, d, nFlat-Tongue-to-GumFor t, in "tie," d, in "die," and n, in "nigh,"the flat edge of the tongue touches the upper



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68 LIP-READINGgum. This tongue movement shows even lessthan that for I; while the trained eye may seeit sometimes, reliance in telling the soundsmust frequently be on the context. .

Consonants Revealed by ContextYRelaxed-Narrow

For y, in "y^s," the lips are relaxed and theopening between the upper and lower lips isnarrow. The movement, however, is so quickand so slight that in ordinary speech the eyerarely sees it. But although the sound is ahard one to see, it causes the lip-reader com-paratively little trouble; this is because we donot have the sound very often. F, as a con-sonant, occurs only before vowels, and hencenever occurs at the end of a word, seldom inthe middle, and usually at the beginning.But of the words that begin with y, there arenot more than twenty-five in common use,and many of these, such as "you" and "yes,"can readily be told by the association or con-text.

K, g (Hard), ngThroat MovementFor fc, in "kin," g, in "go," and ng, in"rang," a drawing up of the throat muscles



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CONSONANTS 69just above the Adam's apple may some-times be seen. But the movement is slight,and if seen at all must be seen while the eyesare on the mouth, and hence the lip-readergets very little help from the throat. Usuallythese sounds must be revealed by the context,

HFor h, in "hat," there is no movement.H has the appearance of the following voweland can be seen only in very slow and ex-aggerated utterance. In ordinary speech,it must always be told by the context.



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CHAPTER IXWORD PRACTISE

To practise words simply for the sake ofthe words^that is, to try to memorize themas one would a vocabularyis the least help-ful form of. word-study; for the analogy be-tween the study of lip-reading and the studyof a foreign language does not hold here.Certainly some good can be obtained from suchpractise, but it is not possible so to memorizeword formations that the eye wUl infalliblyrecognize them whenever seen. Moreover,there is a better way of studying word-forma-tions than in the study of the words by them-selves, and this will be discussed in the chap-ter on Sentence Practise.There are several ways of practising words,

which, besides the intrinsic value they have,include any value that the endeavor to memo-rize the words would have too. Words maybe used to train the eye in accuracy of ob-servation of the sound formation, to train the

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WORD PRACTISE 71mind in quickness of associated thought oridea perceptions, and to train both eye andmind in alertness of response. How wordsmay be so used can best be shown by definiteexamples, and for that purpose I give here-with a list of words:

s^oot


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72 LIP-READINGneed pay no regard to the words themselves;you should not even try for them. Simplymake sure that you see the lips-projectedmovement in each word, and have any wordsrepeated in which you fail to see it until themovement is clear.

Secondly, the words may be used for thestudy of each movement in them. To do this,your assistant should read a word, and whenyou have shown by repetition that you haveunderstood it, let him read the word to youagain while you concentrate your attention onthe movement for the first sound in the word;then again, while you concentrate on thesecond movement; and again for the thirdmovement, and so on. For example, the firstword in the list is "shoot." First make sureyou know the word, and then as your assistantrepeats it watch for the lips-projected move-ment for the sh, then again for the puckered-narrow movement for the long oo, and finallyfor the flat-tongue-to-gum movement for thet. You should not repeat the word each time;simply watch and make sure you see eachsound. Your assistant needs to be cautionedalways to say the whole word, to say it natu-rally without exaggeration, and not to spell it.



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WORD PRACTISE 73So far, the work is aimed to train the eye in

accuracy of observation. To train the mind inquickness of associated thought perceptions,the words may be used in sentences. Yourassistant should first give you a word, andthen, when you have understood it, let himcompose and give you a sentence containingthe word. The object is to have the sentencerevolve about that word with an idea sug-gested by it. For example, take the firstword in the list, "shoot": an idea suggestedby the word would be, "Did you shoot themad dog.''" Or, "I saw a star shoot acrossthe sky?" Or, "Did you ever shoot thechutes?" But such a sentence as, "Did youever shoot?" would not be right, becauseno idea is suggested beyond the idea of shoot-ing, and moreover, because the sentencemight easily be mistaken for, "Did you everchew?" In the work with your assistantit is advisable that several sentences be com-posed for each word, but for practise and ex-ample I will give one sentence each for thewords in the above list:should^Tell me what I should do.

short^My time was very short.sheep"Little Bo-peep lost her sheep."



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74 LIP-READINGshedI wish the cat would not shed her

hairs on the chairs.shadWe had baked shad for dinner.shipWhat hour does the ship sail.'*shutWill you please shut the door.?sharp^The knife is not sharp enough.showWill you show me the book?shy.She is a very shy little girl.shoutDon't shout so loud.shape^What is the shape of the house.?douche^I used a douche for my cold.pushI will push you in the wheel chair.porch^We sat out on the porch last even-

ing.peoAih^The peach is not ripe enough to eat.mesh^The veil has a very fine mesh.mashWill you mash the potatoes for me.?dishI' put the dish on the table.rushI wish you were not always in a rush.harsh^The man has a very harsh voice.poachWould you like to have me poach

the egg?pouch^The postman's mail pouch is full of

letters.pageWill you find the page for me in thebook?ocean"My bonnie lies over the ocean."



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WORD PRACTISE 75nation^The nation celebrates its birthdayon the Fourth of July.

pleasureIt will be a pleasure for me tohave you call.azure^The sky is a beautiful azure.seizure^The custom house made a large

seizure of smuggled goods.leisureI have very little leisure for read-ing.enjoyDon't you enjoy a good game of

cards .f*To use the list of words to develop quickness

of response by eye and mind, it is necessarythat your assistant should know the wordspractically by heart. He should then say thewords, while you repeat them. Immediatelywhen you have repeated a word he should giveyou the next word. You, too, must try tomake your response as quickly as possible, thewhole effort being to "hit up the speed" to themaximum. The words may be given first inorder, and then skipping around, over andover, until you can maintain your quicknessof response from word to word through thelist.



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CHAPTER XSENTENCE PRACTISE

The chief value of sentence practise is formind training; but any form of practise mustalso have value in training the eyes. Sen-tences, too, can be used in such a way aschiefly to teach the eye sound and word form-ations. First, however, they should be usedin the more obvious way of training the mindto grasp the thought. For this purpose, assoon as the student is sufficiently advanced,sentences should be used with which he isnot in any way familiar either by previouspractise or even reading.As these sentences are read to you youreffort should be to understand them, notanalytically, but synthetically; not word byword, but the sentence as a whole. The firstpart of a sentence will usually be found thehardest; if, failing to understand that part,your mind stops and tries to puzzle it out, youwill lose not only the first but also the last.

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SENTENCE PRACTISE 77On the other hand, if you strive to under-stand the sentence as a whole, and do not letyour mind stop, no matter how much may belost, frequently the last part of the sentencemay suggest the first part, and thus completeunderstanding is attained.

Sentences may also be used to train the mindto work along the line of natural thought-associations. As all lip-readers know, theease of understanding is increased greatly ifwe have any idea of the subject of conver-sation. Much of conversation is a directprogression from one associated thought toanother, and hence any training that helps themind to quicknes

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Lipreading Manual 1