Speechreading

Speechreading, also known as lipreading, is the perception of speech by vision alone. The term lipreading is commonly used in nontechnical discussions and can be used interchangeably with speechreading. Speechreading is preferred when emphasizing that visual speech perception is not limited to perceiving the lips but includes perception of the motions and postures of the tongue, jaw, and cheeks, and possibly the eyebrows and head. Sometimes, speechreading refers to audiovisual speech perception by individuals with sufficient hearing loss that they rely primarily on vision but also obtain information from a hearing aid or cochlear implant. The information in this entry applies strictly to visual speech perception alone.