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You Should Hear What You’re Missing!

Take a Lip Reading Class and Find Out!

Article submitted by The Center for Hearing, Speech and Language (CHSL). For further information, they can be reached at 719-597-3390 or www.chsl.org

“Most people-even if their hearing is normal-use speech-reading to some degree---but for hard of hearing people, honing the skill becomes much more important.”– American Academy of Audiology

The Center for Hearing, Speech and Language (CHSL) offers periodic classes in Lip Reading, better known today as Speech Reading. Our Speech Reading sessions are instructional courses and offer hearing-impaired persons an enhancement technique that can ultimately improve their ability to communicate - whether they use hearing aids or not. Even those who suffer NO hearing disorder can benefit from speech-reading classes!

Speech-reading is an art form in itself – the ability to use visual and situational information to enhance a person’s ability to communicate. Classroom participants are taught analytic skills, such as recognizing how specific sounds “look” on the lips, and synthetic skills, such as using context and body language to help understand what a speaker is saying. Considering the fact that in the United States alone more than 28 million people have SOME level of hearing loss, speech-reading classes are becoming all the rage!

The Center for Hearing, Speech and Language has a rich history in speech-reading - having begun as a volunteer-run lip-reading club in 1918 and evolving into the Denver League for the Hard of Hearing. Today, classroom participants, eager to improve their speech-reading skills, have asked to continue their work by requesting that CHSL offer an Intermediate Class.

Classes meet in the conference room of the CHSL offices, located at 4280 Hale Parkway (2 blocks East of 12th and Colorado Blvd.) and are one hour per week for six weeks. If you are interested in attending a future class, please call Betty Sweetman, CHSL Director of Audiology, at 303-322-1871, Ext. 108 for classroom course and materials information.

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