North-east Scottish charity’s lipreading classes praised for their life-changing impact
North East Sensory Services logo
A group of friends who met at a lipreading class offered by a north-east Scottish charity have spoken about how learning the skill has changed their lives for the better.
Sheila Smart, Alison Stockley and Alex Mair all took part in the class in Elgin, and later formed their own support group with their classmates so they could keep improving. The three friends have differing forms of hearing loss, and signed up to the free classes offered by North East Sensory Services (NESS) between 2018 and 2022.
They said learning how to lipread had boosted their confidence, helped them understand others, and broken down the feelings of social isolation that hearing loss can bring. The friends also found that learning about the experiences of other people living with hearing loss helped them cope with their own difficulties.
NESS supports thousands of blind and deaf people, and those with visual and hearing impairments, across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Dundee, Angus and Moray. The charity’s main objective is to help people with sensory loss to live as independently as possible, one of the key things that the lipreading classes achieve.
Sheila, 64, from Forres, has been using hearing aids since her early 40s and signed up for the classes after finding herself struggling to follow other people’s conversations.
Sheila“Lipreading is basically using the eyes to help the ears, using not just lip shapes but also expression, gestures, body language and of course the context. Lipreading classes are designed to help train the brain to see and work out what a person is saying. For me, lipreading was about using the skills I already had in understanding spoken English and adding another layer of skill."
“In the end, I found the classes offered so much more. They boosted my confidence, helped me understand why I have difficulty understanding another person, why the mistakes in understanding can occur – and most importantly it has helped me to manage my own expectations and those of others. I now understand how the speaker can help me, by changing how they say things and how I can explain my needs to them. It has built my confidence in saying 'This is what I need', rather than using the smile, nod of the head or ‘Really?’ or ‘That's interesting’ phrases I had come to rely on when I had not a clue what the conversation was about.”
After the NESS lipreading course came to an end in March this year, Sheila, Alison, Alex and their classmates decided to set up their own support group so they could keep in touch. They named it The Lighthouse Group, as it acts as a beacon of hope to those who struggle with hearing loss. The trio now actively encourage others in their position to try lipreading.
A group of 7 people (3 women and 4 men) standing in a kitchen. One woman is holding a model of a lighthouse.
Alison, 74, from Elgin, said that while she only had relatively mild hearing loss, the classes helped her understand the needs of others and the more severe issues they could face.
Alison“I had lip-read for years before joining the group and had coped, but, with increasing deafness and its frustrations, I was delighted to find the class. It opened my eyes as to the tactics one could develop in lipreading situations of all sorts.”
Alex, 70, from Cullen, is totally deaf in one ear and requires a hearing aid for the other ear. He said the lipreading classes rapidly became a crucial part of his day-to-day life.
Alex“It has been a lifeline to me, especially at times when faced with feelings of depression as a result of not being able to socialise.”
Debbie Miller, lipreading tutor at NESS“I’m absolutely delighted that some of my former pupils decided to form the Lighthouse Group to support each other and keep in touch after the lipreading classes ended. Lipreading involves training the brain to ‘see’ spoken language as it appears on the lips and to use any residual hearing to fill in any gaps to make sense of what is being said!"
“The course also teaches the importance of paying attention to the context, gestures, expression, and body language, all of which are crucial skills in lipreading. But the creation of the Lighthouse Group just goes to show that the classes also offer so much more – they help people form friendships, find common ground and reduce the risk of social isolation which is so common among those with hearing loss.”
Ends
Join our mailing list
If you would like to receive regular news and updates about our work, then you can sign up to our mailing list.