This article reflects on Alexander Graham Bell's 1888 testimony before the Royal Commission of the United Kingdom on the Condition of the Deaf and Dumb, Etc. Excerpts are grouped by reference to (1) language education for the hearing impaired; (2) speechreading; (3) methods of teaching; (4) speech; and (5) sign language. (Author/PB)

Illustrated are landmarks in the development of speechreading and its role in speech perception by individuals with impaired hearing. Covered are historical influences from 1450 to the present and issues in teaching/learning speechreading, such as the most effective unit of analysis for instruction and the impact of linguistic context. (JDD)

Forty-five normal-hearing college students were assessed on lipreading performance at three visual distances, with three treatment conditions. All three groups showed an overall decrease in lipreading performance with increasing distance. Subjects who received combined lipreading and Tactaid II+ training performed better across all distances than…

Nine adults with hearing impairments received a speech recognition drill using interactive video disk technology which included immediate feedback and partial cuing. Eight similar adults received a noninteractive video approach with delayed feedback and no adaptive instruction. No significant differences were found between groups in posttraining…

Phoneme identification with audiovisually discrepant stimuli is influenced by information in the visual signal (the McGurk effect). Additionally, lexical status affects identification of auditorily presented phonemes. The present study tested for lexical influences on the McGurk effect. Participants identified phonemes in audiovisually discrepant…

This study examined the benefits of the combined used of a hearing aid and tactual aid to supplement lip-reading in the reception of speech and for the recognition of environmental sounds in an adult with profound hearing loss. Speech conditions included lip-reading alone (L), lip-reading + tactual aid (L+TA) lip-reading + hearing aid (L+HA) and…

Prize winners in The First National Search for Applications to Aid the Handicapped are highlighted. First prize of $10,000 was presented to Dr. Harry Levitt, hearing and speech professor at the City University of New York. He programmed a TRS-80 Pocket Computer for rapid communication by the deaf over telephones. (MP)

Under both the audition alone and combined audition and lipreading conditions, Ss' performance was superior to that previously reported for profoundly hearing impaired children trained in schools in which a "multisensory" approach is typically used. (Author)

Describes the development of a series of television programs tailor-made for the profoundly deaf and their usage in a school for such children. (Author)

The paper describes three intensive one-week classes concerning hearing impairment held by Gallaudet University through the Elderhostel program for people 60 years of age and older. The courses (Hearing Loss and Hearing Aids, Speechreading and Communication Strategies, and Psychosocial Aspects of Hearing Impairment) all include experiential labs.…