Visual word recognition in two facial motion conditions: full-face versus lips-plus-mandible

The present study used a new method to develop video sequences that limited exposure of facial movement. A repeated-measures design was used to investigate the visual recognition of 60 monosyllabic spoken words, presented in an open set format, for two face exposure conditions (full-face vs. lips-plus-mandible). Twenty-six normal hearing college students and 4 adults with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss speechread a video laserdisc presentation of a male talker under the two face exposure conditions. Percent phoneme correct scores were similar in the part-face and full-face conditions. However, scores significantly improved for the repeated measure independent of the face exposure condition observed. The results suggested that speechreaders (a) can recognize monosyllabic words in video sequences that provide information only about movements of the lips-plus-mandible region and (b) are sensitive to practice effects.