Packard
Member
Lip reading depends on several factors for accuracy, mainly movement of the lips, context and history.
Some words have no lip movement, and some lip movement is associated with 2 or 3 different sounds.
For example “Mom”, “Bob” and “Pop” all look identical to the lip reader. Don’t believe me? Repeat those words in front of a mirror. And all could fit neatly in the same conversation.
Someone with history with the speaker might know that the speaker never used “Pop” for her father. Her go-to term was “Dad”. And that same someone would know that “Mom” was deceased. So the difficult word would fall to “Bob”. But the distant observer working for the news media is unlikely to have that intimate knowledge and the conversation would have a 1 in 3 likelihood of being correct. In other words, a guess.
Also, some words have no lip movement at all. Say “a dozen eggs” in front of the mirror if you don’t believe me.
Which brings me to the article that prompted this post:
MSM reported a conversation between Tiger Woods and Vanessa Trump.
And while I would have no problem reading Trump’s sentence by lip reading, Woods’ response is a problem.
“I don’t even have” is easily read. But “any hair” is like “a dozen eggs” and is unreadable—no lip movement. So, it is a guess. Was the guess made by the lip reader? Maybe. But I find it more likely that the article writer suggested it as it makes a better story than anything else he could think of.
"It's alright," as she confessed per the lip reader, "I know...I need to stop being immature."
Tiger Woods responded: "I don't even have any hair."
The MSM article link:
There are certainly better lip readers than I. But there are some limitations that cannot be bridged. So question every reported “lip read” conversation.
On the other hand some “read” conversations seem just as loud and clear as if the speaker was standing in front of you.
In the 1988 Olympics, Debi Thomas, an American figure skater, faced off against the (then) East German Katarina Witt.
I was watching the televised live performance on a TV screen in a TGI Friday restaurant. Thomas just finished her warm up and skated up to her coach and said, “I’m so tired”. There was no audio in the restaurant. This was pure lip reading.
She could have been standing next to me when she said that. All the words were easily read. I knew at that moment that she had talked herself out of a medal. I looked for someone who wanted to bet on the outcome of the competition (I know it was cheating) but I could find no takers.
Even a non-lip reader could read, “I’m so tired”. Check it out in front of a mirror.
This is Google’s summary:
Katarina Witt (East Germany) defeated USA's Debi Thomas to win gold in figure skating at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, a showdown known as the "Battle of the Carmens" because both skated to Bizet's Carmen. While Thomas was a top contender, she struggled in her free skate with three jump errors, allowing Witt to secure her second consecutive Olympic gold.
Some words have no lip movement, and some lip movement is associated with 2 or 3 different sounds.
For example “Mom”, “Bob” and “Pop” all look identical to the lip reader. Don’t believe me? Repeat those words in front of a mirror. And all could fit neatly in the same conversation.
Someone with history with the speaker might know that the speaker never used “Pop” for her father. Her go-to term was “Dad”. And that same someone would know that “Mom” was deceased. So the difficult word would fall to “Bob”. But the distant observer working for the news media is unlikely to have that intimate knowledge and the conversation would have a 1 in 3 likelihood of being correct. In other words, a guess.
Also, some words have no lip movement at all. Say “a dozen eggs” in front of the mirror if you don’t believe me.
Which brings me to the article that prompted this post:
MSM reported a conversation between Tiger Woods and Vanessa Trump.
And while I would have no problem reading Trump’s sentence by lip reading, Woods’ response is a problem.
“I don’t even have” is easily read. But “any hair” is like “a dozen eggs” and is unreadable—no lip movement. So, it is a guess. Was the guess made by the lip reader? Maybe. But I find it more likely that the article writer suggested it as it makes a better story than anything else he could think of.
"It's alright," as she confessed per the lip reader, "I know...I need to stop being immature."
Tiger Woods responded: "I don't even have any hair."
The MSM article link:
There are certainly better lip readers than I. But there are some limitations that cannot be bridged. So question every reported “lip read” conversation.
On the other hand some “read” conversations seem just as loud and clear as if the speaker was standing in front of you.
In the 1988 Olympics, Debi Thomas, an American figure skater, faced off against the (then) East German Katarina Witt.
I was watching the televised live performance on a TV screen in a TGI Friday restaurant. Thomas just finished her warm up and skated up to her coach and said, “I’m so tired”. There was no audio in the restaurant. This was pure lip reading.
She could have been standing next to me when she said that. All the words were easily read. I knew at that moment that she had talked herself out of a medal. I looked for someone who wanted to bet on the outcome of the competition (I know it was cheating) but I could find no takers.
Even a non-lip reader could read, “I’m so tired”. Check it out in front of a mirror.
This is Google’s summary:
Katarina Witt (East Germany) defeated USA's Debi Thomas to win gold in figure skating at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, a showdown known as the "Battle of the Carmens" because both skated to Bizet's Carmen. While Thomas was a top contender, she struggled in her free skate with three jump errors, allowing Witt to secure her second consecutive Olympic gold.
Last edited:
