Skill Development

From the chronicles

When people talk too fast, do this

Processing speed is not fixed! You can understand fast speech by training with fast speech. The program I recommend to train your brain to “hear faster” is Neurotone’s Lace AI Pro. With this program, you can train with the voices of the people in your life who talk fast! For more information, see The […]

Learn How to Read Lips No. 45

I bought these sunglasses for Canada Day celebrations on July 1. It’s a Canadian thing, eh? Learn how lipreading skill is like having a text predictor in your brain: Related post: Learn how to read lips No. 44

How auditory training is like movie casting

When you first start auditory training, and your brain is trying to extract a voice from background noise, your brain goes into “mass recruitment mode.” The area of your auditory cortex tuned to those specific sounds rapidly expands. The brain floods the zone with resources, recruiting neurons to try and process the voices. If your […]

Learn to read lips No. 44

Names are hard to lipread. There is little context. It can help to make educated guesses, based on substitution! Here’s the link to the playlist for free lessons on YouTube. I also offer one-to-one lipreading instruction online. Related post: Learn to read lips No. 43

DTTE: the engine that helps you to hear better in Lace AI

Lace AI, an auditory training program, has an engine, called DTTE (Dynamic Threshold Training Engine). It’s the most important feature of the program: the engine adapts the difficulty based on your responses. In this way, the difficulty level is tailored to each person. Personally or professionally, I would not use or recommend an auditory […]

Learn to read lips No. 43

I have noticed that people are not offered troubleshooting strategies when they are lipreading and they guess wrong. It’s important to have a back-up strategy if the first thing you see doesn’t make sense. In my lipreading classes, I teach substitution skills, as it seems to be the most effective back-up strategy. Try this one. […]

How does brain chemistry help you to hear in noise?

I can’t say this enough: your ability to hear in noise is not fixed! A key is to be able to practice near your learning threshold. The difficulty level is paramount. Brain chemistry can help you to hear in noise: For more information, see Why do I need auditory training?

Learn to read lips No. 42

As a teacher of lip reading, an important skill that I impart is substitution. You can get more practice with my free lessons on YouTube. In under two hours, you will get the information you need to start rockin’ at lipreading! I also offer one-to-one lipreading instruction. Related post: Learn to read lips #41

Have hearing loss, but don’t need “help”?

There are short-term and long term impacts of not pursuing “help” for hearing loss. My take on it is that if you bump up against any of the short-term impacts listed here, it’s time to take action. Taking action doesn’t have to be hearing aids, if you’re not ready. But do something! Examples include […]

Learn to read lips No. 41

If you’re learning to read lips, you can expect to make mistakes. The mistakes are not serious; the conversation will keep flowing if you have a way to recover. Substitution skills are the best way to get back on track. Try it with me now, in this short (31 seconds) video: You can get […]