How to lip read: the shapes, the tricks, and how to practise
Lipreading (or speechreading) is understanding speech by watching the speaker's lips, face and gestures. It's a skill, and it gets better with practice, especially if you're losing some of your hearing.
Watch for shapes, not sounds
You can't see a sound, only the shape the mouth makes for it, and several sounds share a shape. Learn the shapes and you know what to look for. Lipreading teachers call each group a viseme.
| Sounds | What you see | Example |
|---|---|---|
| P, B, M | The lips press together, then open. | pat, bat and mat look the same |
| F, V | The lower lip touches the top teeth. | fan and van |
| TH | The tongue tip shows between the teeth. | think, this |
| W | The lips push forward into a small round shape. | we, one |
| SH, CH, J | The lips push forward, square, with the teeth close. | shoe, chew and Jew |
| S, Z | The teeth come close together. | sip and zip |
| L | The tongue tip lifts behind the top teeth. | let, low |
| T, D, N, K, G | Mostly hidden behind the teeth or at the back of the mouth. | context does the work |
Vowels
| Sound | What you see | Example |
|---|---|---|
| EE | Lips spread, like a small smile. | see, key, tea |
| OO | Lips round and push forward. | you, who, shoe |
| AH | The jaw drops, mouth open wide. | car, far, heart |
| OR | Mouth open, lips rounded. | saw, door, more |
Let context do the rest
Because “pat”, “bat” and “mat” look the same, nobody lipreads word by word. Skilled lipreaders use what they know: where they are, what the topic is, and what usually gets said there. At a café till, “card or cash?” is far likelier than anything that merely looks like it. That's why the phrase decks tell you the setting.
Tips for real conversations
- Face the person, with the light on their face, not behind them.
- Ask for the topic first: “What are we talking about?”
- Ask people to speak normally. Shouting or exaggerating changes the lip shapes.
- If you miss something, ask them to rephrase it, not just repeat it.
- Watch the whole face: eyebrows, expression and gestures carry meaning too.
- Use it with your hearing aids and captions, not instead of them.
How to practise
Short, regular practice works better than long, rare sessions. Watch My Lips gives you a few silent clips a day, showing just the mouth: lip shapes first, then numbers and letters, then everyday sentences, each from many different speakers. After each answer you watch the clip again knowing what was said, which is when the shapes stick, and each clip comes back just before you'd forget it.
In-person classes are worth finding too. In the UK, the Association of Teachers of Lipreading to Adults lists local classes.
Try it now
Start with the consonant shapes: a few clips, about two minutes, free, no sign-up.
Common questions
Can you learn to lip read?
Yes. Lipreading is a skill that improves with practice, at any age. Most people with no training understand about one word in five from the lips alone; practice and context raise that, and together with whatever you can hear it makes conversation much easier to follow.
Why is lip reading so hard?
Many sounds look the same on the lips (p, b and m; f and v), and some are hidden inside the mouth (k, g, t, d, n). So lipreading is part seeing and part filling in the gaps from context.
How long does it take to learn?
A few minutes a day is enough to start noticing the shapes within a couple of weeks. Like any skill, it keeps improving the longer you practise.