What are visemes?

Visemes are groups of speech sounds that appear similar on the face. This concept is crucial in the field of aural rehabilitation, particularly when addressing communication strategies for individuals who are hard of hearing or deaf. The visual aspect of speech involves how certain phonemes (the smallest units of sound) look when produced, and multiple phonemes can look alike on the lips. For instance, the sounds "b," "p," and "m" may have distinct acoustic properties but can appear similar when lip movements are observed. Understanding visemes is essential for developing effective communication techniques, such as speechreading, where individuals rely on visual cues to comprehend spoken language.

Other options describe different aspects of auditory and visual information processing. Words that sound alike pertain to phonetic similarities rather than visual recognition. Patterns of speech that are easily lipread imply a connection to clarity and distinctness in articulation but do not specifically define visemes. Syllables that are hard to distinguish visually relate to challenges in visual speech perception but do not capture the essence of what visemes represent within the context of speech and lipreading.