Nina Dellinger was 16 when she realized she could read lips.
She was zoning out in math class, she said, and it struck
her that she could understand what a classmate was saying across the room, even
though she couldn’t hear a word.
اضافة اعلان
A hidden talent
For years, Dellinger kept this skill to herself, practicing
in secret in social situations, making it a game. That changed in 2020, when
she joined TikTok and found that she could rack up followers by interpreting
the whispered, caught-on-camera conversations of celebrities and other
prominent people.
At the 65th annual Grammy Awards in February, Ben and
Jennifer Affleck appeared to be in the middle of a tense but inaudible
conversation at their table. Ordinarily, a celebrity couple’s off-mic
conversation would remain a mystery to anyone out of earshot, but Dellinger
filled in the blanks.
In a video she posted to TikTok, she said that the former
Jennifer Lopez appeared to have said, “Prove it.” Then, after a pause, Jennifer
Affleck repeated the same thing: “Prove it.” Dellinger’s video has more than 12
million views.
Dellinger has decoded nearly 100 such seen-but-not-heard
moments. They include Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy on the floor of the House
of Representatives; Taylor Swift dishing to Phoebe Bridgers at the iHeartRadio
Music Awards; an on-court taunt between two players at the NCAA women’s basketball
championship; and actor Miles Teller talking to a Philadelphia Eagles player at
the Super Bowl.
Lip reading marks a new era
Lip reading perhaps marks a new era, or devolution, in
celebrity culture. One wonders if people in the public eye will start covering
their mouths when they are in the vicinity of a camera, like pitchers and
catchers during mound visits.
Dellinger, 26, lives in Belize, where she moved from her
native Southern California a year and a half ago to start her dream business of
operating a cruise company. She said she did not set out to become “lip reading
girl,” as she is referred to by her TikTok fans, or to amass nearly 1 million
followers on the platform.
“I didn’t understand how much of a phenomenon it would be,”
Dellinger said in a phone interview.
Not an exact science
Lip reading is hardly an exact science. Jeremy Freeman, 49,
who has been called upon as an expert lip reader in cases involving sexual
assault, insurance fraud, and other serious matters, described it as a skill
that can be honed with considerable practice. For Freeman, who was born deaf,
the practice has “been ingrained in me since I was brought up,” he said.
He said he still relies on other cues, like body language
and social context, to determine what is being said. “There is guessing
involved,” said Freeman, who works as a writer near London. “I would never say
I can lip read 100% accurately.” Certain people, like Scottish comedian and
actor Billy Connolly, confound him. “I find him impossible to lip read,”
Freeman said.
Is it invasion of privacy?
Aside from accuracy, there is the question of ethics. Is lip
reading an invasion of privacy?
Freeman said he would never lip read someone in their home.
But if it’s a celebrity at a live event, like the coronation of King Charles
III, which he lips read for a media outlet, he views it as “part of the
commentary.” (He added that he heard from a deaf person afterward who thought
that it was an invasion of privacy.)
Dellinger said she also has limits. In a video she posted on
a conversation between Olivia Rodrigo and Iris Apatow in the front row of a Los
Angeles Lakers game, Dellinger left out the name of the person Rodrigo appeared
to say she was dating.
Krystin Kalvoy, 25, another popular lip reader on TikTok,
said she will not interpret videos in which she believes something deeply
personal is being said. She recently lip-read footage of royal family members
during the coronation, after having decided against trying to narrate what the
Afflecks were saying at the Grammys, which some TikTok users had asked her to
do.
“The last thing I would want is to leak private moments,”
said Kalvoy, who is hearing-impaired. ‘We want to know what’s going on? Is Ben
drinking again?’ You don’t want to be the fuel to that fire.”
Initially, Kalvoy wasn’t sure she could lip read celebrity
videos, because they’re often taken at live events and shot from side angles
rather than square on the face. But like Dellinger, she has posted videos in
this subgenre that have gotten millions of views.
Kalvoy also relies on lip reading to navigate everyday life
— which has gotten more difficult in recent years. “Everyone is glued to their
phone,” she said. “I need eye contact in order to get by. I need people to look
at my face, and I need to look at theirs.”
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