The development and analysis of interactive videodisc technology to teach speechreading

Members of the Department of Communication Disorders and Special Education and the Institute for Interactive Technologies at Bloomsburg University developed a computer-based interactive videodisc instructional program to teach speechreading skills. Speechreading Challenges on Videodisc provides users with practice in speechreading words, sentences, and stories presented by over 150 people in a user friendly environment. Unlike traditional videotapes, videodisc technology provides immediate feedback to the user. To determine the program's effectiveness in teaching speechreading, a comprehensive evaluation of the program was undertaken. Seventy-four college students participated in a study using the program to learn speechreading. Results indicated a statistically significant improvement in speechreading ability from pretest to posttest measures on both the videodisc program evaluation as well as on the Costello Test of Speechreading.