How good are you at lip reading? Lip reading is a necessary part of daily conversation for many deaf people, despite being one of the most difficult forms of communication to learn. To raise awareness of the challenges faced by lip readers, we’ve put together a video quiz to see how the average person fares. How much can you understand, relying only on lip reading?

As part of our mission to provide great care and therapy in schools and education institutions, we have decided to help raise awareness of the day to day challenges faced by those without hearing – the biggest of which is communication. When you can’t hear you have to use other methods to communicate with others, including techniques such as sign language and lip-reading. Unfortunately, those that can hear are often unable to use sign language and unaware of how difficult lip reading can be making it difficult for deaf people to interact with others.

There is a common misconception that deaf people are all proficient lip readers and that lip reading can be learned easily. These misconceptions are compounded by portrayals in popular culture that show both deaf and non-deaf people perfectly reading lips from afar or through obstructed views. In reality, lip reading is very difficult to learn or master; studies have shown that the average person can only recognize 10% of words through lip reading – including those that are deaf – with experienced lip readers recognizing around 30 to 45%.

There are many challenges when lip reading, including accents, similar letter shapes – and the fact that many people mumble, cover their mouths, and even move while talking to people. To properly reflect this, our quiz features seven real life scenarios, with each person talking at a regular pace, with regular hand gestures and facial movements.

Once you’ve taken our quiz, please feel free to share your scores with you friends, family, and colleagues, using the Twitter hashtag #ProCareChallenge

So, are you ready to find out how difficult it is to lip read?

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