Lipreading Cantonese with voice pitch

The contribution of auditory voice pitch information to lipreading connected speech in Cantonese was evaluated by using a connected‐discourse tracking task. Five lipreading conditions were used: with voice pitch, constant pitch, expanded pitch range, transposed pitch range, and no auditory input. Results indicate a consistent gain of 199% in lipreading proficiency when visual comprehension was complemented by voice pitch information. This will constitute an effective method of training and assessment in speech rehabilitative work with the deaf, especially in a tone language environment in which fundamental frequency patterning of speech is responsible for lexical distinctions.