People with hearing issues synergise their sight and hearing senses to detect and assimilate environmental information, according to research by Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CERCO, CNRS/Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier), with the ENT department at Toulouse’s Hôpital Purpan.
Read >> Hearing With Sight: Why Implants Have Variable Results
Lip-Readers See And Hear Sound
Lip-readers already harmonise their hearing and seeing senses to interpret information relayed to them – a point that is validated by this research. A person whose hearing is fading for instance, may unknowingly start to hand-over to lip-reading during conversations, particularly in noisy settings.
Notably, the “vision” area of the brain, is most receptive to sound in the six months after a cochlear implant is received. Again, this confirms lip-reading to have a positive role for people learning to hear with a cochlear implant.
Babies And Adults New To Implants
Remember, all babies lip-read from 6 to 12 months old, to see word-forms as they learn to talk. Accordingly, a baby with hearing issues may lip-read with an implant if they get one (or two). Facing the child when talking in the six months after an implant, could unlock better outcomes for everyone.
Adults are a different example, remembering some will be born-deaf, with others acquiring hearing issues during their lifetime. Lipreading again, can be a shared factor, and for born-deaf people, may be critical in learning to interpret the new speech sounds received from the implant-processor.
More Reading
- New Study: Babies Learn Language By Lip-Reading
- Parent Question: How Early To Teach Lip-Reading?
- Lipreading For Children: Challenges And Benefits
- Does Lip-Reading Benefit Kids’ Reading Ability?
- Listening & Speaking: A Link To Reading/Writing?
- Hearing-Aids And Parents Boost Kids’ Vocabulary
- Lip-Reading Challenges In The Hearing World
- Cochlear Implants Redefine What It Means To Be Deaf
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