I have noticed this problem too.  I find that when in a group of people in
a noisy place, I frequently cannot tell if a person is talking to me or
someone else.  I think it helps to be directly facing the person talking to
you.  Sighted people have the advantage of turning toward the speaking
person whereas we are lucky to be looking in their general direction, at
least when the environment is noisy.    Perhaps it is not lip reading that
gives the sighted the advantage in this situation but having the ears
positioned in the optimal position to maximize hearing. Just a thought.

Sherry Wells


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html