Lip Reading

It bothers Margaret Cahill that she occasionally offends people. The 67-year-old woman is deaf in one ear, and because of that disability she doesn't always hear what people say to her. Last month, for example, at her granddaughter's law school graduation, Cahill said, "her boyfriend spoke to me, and I didn't acknowledge him. He told my granddaughter, 'Your grandmother's ignoring me,' and she told him that I'm deaf in one ear."

Virginia McKinney, who lost most of her hearing as an adult and founded a Los Angeles center to teach communication skills to some of the hardest-to-reach deaf students, has died. She was 85. McKinney died Thursday at Glendale Adventist Medical Center of complications from a lung disease, said her son Walter. She had myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease, and had been confined to a wheelchair for almost 20 years. "Her story is one of grass-roots beginnings, perseverance and miraculous outcomes for an underserved community," her son said.

In writing recently about obscenity in movies, I recalled the silent version of "What Price Glory?" which used no obscene words in its titles. "Remember how Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen as Sgt. Quirt and Capt. Flagg burned up the screen . . . with their pugnacious dialogue, delivered with snarling faces chin to chin, and without a single obscenity?" I would have been about 10 years old when that film was made, and evidently I was more innocent than I remember.

Tyler de Lara, 2, thrashes on a gurney, tangled in his sheet, hospital gown and IV tubing. A white bandage encircles his head and, loosened by his squirming, slips down and covers his eyes. All that shows is a tuft of black hair and his mouth, set in an angry pout. Dr. Akira Ishiyama notes Tyler's grimace and says he's pleased. It means there is no facial nerve damage. Tyler was diagnosed as deaf six months earlier.

Twenty deaf people will field test a potentially revolutionary device this summer: computerized eyeglasses that enable the wearer to see speech. The glasses, attached to a microprocessor that can be hung from a belt, translate sound from speech into symbols that are flashed using light-emitting devices onto one of the lenses. Using a combination of the symbols and traditional lip-reading, the wearer can understand speech better than with lip-reading alone.

Tyler de Lara, 2, thrashes on a gurney, tangled in his sheet, hospital gown and IV tubing. A white bandage encircles his head and, loosened by his squirming, slips down and covers his eyes. All that shows is a tuft of black hair and his mouth, set in an angry pout. Dr. Akira Ishiyama notes Tyler's grimace and says he's pleased. It means there is no facial nerve damage. Tyler was diagnosed as deaf six months earlier.

The 50,000-member California Retired Teachers Assn. has compiled these 10 tips for returning teachers: 1: Write a note to your students. As soon as you get your class roster, send a note to all of them, welcoming them to your class and outlining some activities that the year will include. Include information to parents about your availability. 2: Get the classroom ready. A bright, inviting setting is fundamental to a positive learning experience.

Since the advent of the "read my lips" Bush era, lip-reading has become a favorite pastime. So, here I am trying to be first with the new readout: Raise local taxes! HARRY H. GONDA Irvine

Lip-reading for people with mild to severe hearing losses will be taught at a series of classes that will run through the end of August. The classes are at Glendale Federal Bank, 24221 Calle de la Louisa, from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays through Aug. 28. The instructor is Felice Kolda, an audiologist who works for the UCLA Hope for Hearing research institute. Sponsored by UCLA, the workshops cost $80. Participants may bring a family member at no extra charge.

When Nita and Lewis Talbot's daughter, Alaina, was 6 months old, they discovered she was completely deaf. "We probably knew something was wrong with Alaina when she was 4 months old, because when I ground coffee beans every morning, she never startled, but I think we were in denial at first," says Nita Talbot, 39, of San Juan Capistrano. "It was a hard blow for us."

The 50,000-member California Retired Teachers Assn. has compiled these 10 tips for returning teachers: 1: Write a note to your students. As soon as you get your class roster, send a note to all of them, welcoming them to your class and outlining some activities that the year will include. Include information to parents about your availability. 2: Get the classroom ready. A bright, inviting setting is fundamental to a positive learning experience.

Lip-reading for people with mild to severe hearing losses will be taught at a series of classes that will run through the end of August. The classes are at Glendale Federal Bank, 24221 Calle de la Louisa, from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays through Aug. 28. The instructor is Felice Kolda, an audiologist who works for the UCLA Hope for Hearing research institute. Sponsored by UCLA, the workshops cost $80. Participants may bring a family member at no extra charge.

It bothers Margaret Cahill that she occasionally offends people. The 67-year-old woman is deaf in one ear, and because of that disability she doesn't always hear what people say to her. Last month, for example, at her granddaughter's law school graduation, Cahill said, "her boyfriend spoke to me, and I didn't acknowledge him. He told my granddaughter, 'Your grandmother's ignoring me,' and she told him that I'm deaf in one ear."

When Nita and Lewis Talbot's daughter, Alaina, was 6 months old, they discovered she was completely deaf. "We probably knew something was wrong with Alaina when she was 4 months old, because when I ground coffee beans every morning, she never startled, but I think we were in denial at first," says Nita Talbot, 39, of San Juan Capistrano. "It was a hard blow for us."

Since the advent of the "read my lips" Bush era, lip-reading has become a favorite pastime. So, here I am trying to be first with the new readout: Raise local taxes! HARRY H. GONDA Irvine

In writing recently about obscenity in movies, I recalled the silent version of "What Price Glory?" which used no obscene words in its titles. "Remember how Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen as Sgt. Quirt and Capt. Flagg burned up the screen . . . with their pugnacious dialogue, delivered with snarling faces chin to chin, and without a single obscenity?" I would have been about 10 years old when that film was made, and evidently I was more innocent than I remember.

Virginia McKinney, who lost most of her hearing as an adult and founded a Los Angeles center to teach communication skills to some of the hardest-to-reach deaf students, has died. She was 85. McKinney died Thursday at Glendale Adventist Medical Center of complications from a lung disease, said her son Walter. She had myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease, and had been confined to a wheelchair for almost 20 years. "Her story is one of grass-roots beginnings, perseverance and miraculous outcomes for an underserved community," her son said.

Twenty deaf people will field test a potentially revolutionary device this summer: computerized eyeglasses that enable the wearer to see speech. The glasses, attached to a microprocessor that can be hung from a belt, translate sound from speech into symbols that are flashed using light-emitting devices onto one of the lenses. Using a combination of the symbols and traditional lip-reading, the wearer can understand speech better than with lip-reading alone.