What everyone gets wrong about the science of lip-reading | Letter

2026-03-18 - 17:10

Jill Jones responds to the news that royals and celebrities have been warned to watch their words when out and about Regarding your article (Royals and celebrities warned to watch words as lip-reading videos go viral, 15 March), the public needs to be aware that lip-reading is not an exact science and research shows that only about 30% of information can be seen on the lips in the best of circumstances. This is because the remainder of speech shapes are inside the mouth, hidden from view. So lip-reading is very much guesswork and relies on a great deal of factors, including having good English competency, which many congenitally deaf people do not have due to lack of support in education; having the person being lip-read close enough to see clearly, their head still, with slow, clear lip patterns; nothing hiding the mouth like beards or hands; having an accent that is familiar to the person lip-reading; plenty of facial expressions and gestures, and so on. Continue reading...