‘Lipreading is far more than recognising words. It is about friendship, community and everyday life’

Upon walking into one of Jewish Deaf Association’s (JDA) lipreading classes, the enthusiasm and warmth of the instructor, Gabrielle Renée, is made immediately apparent.

Providing coffee, tea, and snacks, Gabbie, as she prefers to be known, provides the classes’ attendees with a welcoming atmosphere of laughter and community once a week, embedded in Jewish culture and tradition.

Despite many people who experience hearing loss relying on lip-reading skills, NHS funding has long been diverted to its better-known counterpart: hearing aids. But hearing aids are not the one-size-fits all solution that many believe them to be, with one member of the class, Sarah Strassman, 72, saying: “Hearing aids are not like glasses. People think you put them in and suddenly hear perfectly again, but they amplify everything. In restaurants, for example, you hear all the background noise, the music, the traffic, everything at once.”

Affecting one in three of the UK population, hearing loss can impact education, mental health, relationships, independence and access to services and support. By learning to lipread, those who are deaf or experience hearing loss are empowered “to maintain their independence and reconnect with the world around them. Too many people struggle with hearing loss in silence or simply accept the isolation that can come with it”, says JDA’s chief executive, Sue Cipin.

JDA CEO Sue Cipin (Photo: JDA)[Missing Credit]

Aimee Rosenthal, a 19-year-old student, was born severely deaf and has struggled with hearing loss throughout her life. Despite being supported by hearing aids, she says that lipreading “a thousand percent” helps her in understanding those around her. “I don’t even notice how much I rely on it, but there is a noticeable difference between having a conversation when I can see someone’s lips and when they are facing away from me when they talk.”

The class’s participants, who sit around Gabbie in a semi-circle as she instructs their next activity, come from a multitude of different backgrounds, ages and levels in their craft. Some have endured hearing loss since a young age or birth, whereas others are still grappling with a recent diagnosis, while the speed of the onset of hearing loss varies massively between them. Despite these differences, they are all united by their common struggle of being unable to fully engage in a busy discussion or feeling isolated by their experience.

“The hardest thing is social situations. If there’s a group conversation and people are speaking from different directions, you can’t follow it properly. You feel left out. You feel cut off,” says Sarah, who is a former teacher from Golders Green. She found herself with sudden hearing loss in one ear after waking up from an afternoon nap seven years ago.

“Even now, if people don’t face me when they speak, it’s very difficult. Lipreading helps enormously, but when lots of people are talking over each other, it becomes exhausting.”

Gabrielle Renée, Hearing Connect manager at JDA, hearing therapist, lipreading teacher (Photo: JDA)[Missing Credit]

Praising the JDA’s ongoing support and services, Sarah said: “The support made a huge difference because you suddenly realise, you’re not alone. It’s not just the lipreading itself, it’s the atmosphere. Gabbie, our lipreading teacher, creates such warmth and humour in the class that people feel comfortable immediately.”

The classes put on by Gabbie and the rest of the JDA, although primarily focused on lipreading, involve teaching a host of other skills which enhance one’s ability to lipread successfully. As Gabbie explains, lipreading is not simply watching somebody’s mouth move and guessing what they are saying as just 30 per cent of speech can be understood from lip movements alone. The rest of the understanding comes from incorporating facial expressions, body language, context and experience.

Lip-reading teacher Gabbie Renee (left), with attendees Nick Graham and Sue Aarons (Photo: JDA)[Missing Credit]

Through quizzes, exercises, saying words with and without sounds, and observing facial movements, participants hone and practise the skill, with plenty of laughter along the way. Although the classes help to assist the development of practical communication skills, for some, their greatest benefit is realising that they are not alone.

Sue Aarons, a former computer programmer, has been living with hearing loss since her 30s, but it dramatically worsened after a flight in her 50s, leaving her feeling like she “permanently had cotton wool in my ears”. Now 75, banging her head on a glass door three years ago meant the hearing in her left ear completely disappeared, noticing that “I could feel myself becoming isolated…I could see how much I was withdrawing socially”.

It took Sue a while to find JDA’s lipreading classes, but once she did, says they gave her “confidence to say: ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please face me. Please speak clearly. Please slow down.’”

As Gabbie remarked: “Lipreading is about far more than simply recognising words. It is about reconnecting people to conversation, friendship, community and everyday life.”

For more information on JDA’s lip-reading classes and their other services, go to: jdeaf.org.uk

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Jewish Deaf Association

‘Lipreading is far more than recognising words. It is about friendship, community and everyday life’

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