Lipreading, reading and memory of hearing and hearing-impaired children

The relationship between lipreading, reading and visual and sequential memory was investigated in hearing 10-year-olds and two groups of hearing-impaired 10-year-olds, one educated through the medium of English and the other through British Sign Language. The scores and the pattern of correlations between the variables were hypothesized to be different in the three groups and this was found to be the case. In the case of the hearing, visual memory for complex shapes was significantly correlated with lipreading. For the oral deaf, reading ability was significantly correlated with lipreading, but for the bilingual deaf the correlation was not significant. The possible implications of these findings for the relationships between the cognitive processes involved in lipreading and for the education of the deaf are discussed.