WHEN Co Down expert lip-reader Tina Lannin first stepped warily into “a strange new hearing world” following surgery for cochlear implants, her hearing started dropping in “chunks”.
“My hearing was like a baby; it needed time to learn and grow, but it was fun too,” she remembers.
“I loved discovering the sound of the rain - and the sound of waves on the shore floored me. I thought they were aeroplanes, at first. It was all a rollercoaster ride and quite overwhelming.”
That was back in 2012 when in her thirties - four years after founding groundbreaking live captioning business ‘121 Captions’ which uses lip-reading to provide instantaneous captions at major events for people who are deaf or hearing impaired.
It now employs a team of around 300 captioners worldwide, offering stenography services in 23 languages and working with a range of big players including Microsoft, Oxford University, Disney and the National Crime Agency, among others.
Already well known for lip-reading services for police, the judiciary, medical professionals and television – her skills often called upon to decipher the secret whisperings of the rich and famous – Tina hopes raised awareness of live speech-to-text services will now encourage more people to think about inclusivity in all areas of life.
Sometimes, surprisingly, she says a lack of understanding and support lies closer to home than people may think.
“My childhood was a mix of supportive and challenging experiences,” she says. “My family pushed me to fit into the hearing world, but there was no real understanding of my hearing loss at home and when out socially.
“My teachers were helpful, my friends understanding and encouraging, but there were times when I felt isolated, especially in environments where effective communication was difficult.
“All families face challenges, but mixed deaf-hearing families have some unique challenges and I think hearing people should make the effort too – communication is everyone’s responsibility.”
All families face challenges, but mixed deaf-hearing families have some unique challenges and I think hearing people should make the effort too – communication is everyone’s responsibility
— Tina Lannin
She learned to lip-read when she learned to speak, quickly recognising different lip shapes, facial expressions and body language.
“I was taught lip-reading in primary school, along with intensive English lessons, until I became proficient,” explains Tina, who lives in Groomsport with her 11-year-old hearing dog, a Toy Poodle called Bailey.
“At boarding school, after light lights out, I would lip-read my best friend by moonlight and we would have entire whispered conversations that of course, I couldn’t hear.”
Years later she trained as a lip-reading teacher and now, as a member of the Association of Lip-readers, her skills are in demand for all types of situations, whether interpreting muted conversations between royals or celebrities for TV commentary or analysis, or lip-reading for ordinary people who find themselves in court or in hospital without a voice.
Once, she was asked to lip-read a poltergeist. She wasn’t surprised when he/she didn’t turn up. Another time, she was asked to scrutinise a response in a Mastermind final with presenter John Humphreys after confusion reigned between the words ‘gerbil’ and ‘jerboa’ in a crucial answer from the (eventual) winner, relating to the rodent symbol of the Desert Rats.
“Interpreting private conversations, especially in high-profile settings with the royals or at major sporting events, does come with some ethical considerations,” she concedes, “although, in my opinion, these people in the public eye are at a public event and their comments may be overheard, anyway. My focus has always been on accuracy rather than headlines, as created by some so-called ‘experts’.”
The worst moments, she says, are when lip-reading involves distressing or highly sensitive content such as in rape cases or murder scenes, but the best are when her skills have helped present a full transcript for forensics from “crystal clear footage” or helped in projects such as Peter Jackson’s film, They Shall Not Grow Old, the First World War film clips proving “absolutely fascinating to watch”.
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As with school, university life was “challenging”, with no support given by three different universities when studying business, Japanese and law. But, for a subsequent ‘professional careers consultancy’ qualification, help came – at last – in the form of captioners, transcripts and lip-speakers (a hearing person who has been professionally trained to be easy to lip-read) which made “a world of difference”.
“I actually started out wanting to be a solicitor, but at that time there was little deaf-awareness in law firms and I found it impossible to secure a job,” explains Tina, who has previously worked as an accountant, finance manager for charity, Hearing Concern; lip-reading teacher and deaf awareness trainer.
“I was helping deaf people around me to access education and work and was often frustrated at the quality and limited range of communication support available to deaf people requiring captions - and so, 121 Captions was born.”
Tina has been most recently recognised for her achievements by winning the entrepreneur award at Local Women Magazine’s Inspirational Women of the Year Awards in Belfast.
As with sign language, does she think more of us should learn to lip-read? “Yes, absolutely,” comes the prompt reply (via email – all answers to questions returned, unsurprisingly, with detail, insight and with lightning speed).
“And, while I would encourage learning sign language for those who communicate with the deaf community, lip-reading can be a valuable skill for everyone,” adds Tina, who, as well as learning English as a “foreign language”, speaks Japanese, and “some” German, Spanish and BSL (British Sign Language).
“I learned sign language to Level 2 as an adult, which means I can have a basic conversation in BSL, but my focus remains on honing my lip-reading skills, which I found more immediately beneficial in my personal and professional life.”
With regard to the debate around cochlear implants, she believes they can be life-changing for some, while others in the deaf community prefer to rely on sign language and their cultural identity.
“It’s important to respect individual decisions,” she stresses, “I did find it hard to step into a strange new hearing world and stay there. My experience has helped me understand why some life-long deaf people give up on wearing a cochlear implant, as it takes a lot of practice, persistence and patience to make sense of a hearing world – but I am stubborn and don’t give up easily.”
Outside of work, Tina - who lives with tinnitus “24/7″ and often experiences musical hallucinations with phantom music playing where there is none – has also followed her own path (or, rather race track) – with the same fast pace and winning streak.
A member of the Porsche Club, she recently completed her advanced driver’s certificate and is a regular at the Kirkistown race track near Newtownards.
“I enjoy driving my Porsche and taking it on to the race track,” she says. “But, I have to remove my cochlear implants in order for the helmet to fit on my head. It means I drive in silence and can’t hear the other cars coming up behind me or hear my gear changes. They adapted the course and test for me so I could drive without taking my eyes off the road.”
She may be a truly inspirational award-winner, but it seems even Tina Lannin can’t drive a Porsche and lip-read at the same time.
