This book is one outcome of the NATO Advanced Studies Institute (ASI) Workshop, "Speechreading by Man and Machine," held at the Chateau de Bonas, Castera-Verduzan (near Auch, France) from August 28 to Septem ber 8, 1995 - the first interdisciplinary meeting devoted the subject of speechreading ("lipreading"). The forty-five attendees from twelve countries covered the gamut of speechreading research, from brain scans of humans processing bi-modal stimuli, to psychophysical experiments and illusions, to statistics of comprehension by the normal and deaf communities, to models of human perception, to computer vision and learning algorithms and hardware for automated speechreading machines. The first week focussed on speechreading by humans, the second week by machines, a general organization that is preserved in this volume. After the in evitable difficulties in clarifying language and terminology across disciplines as diverse as human neurophysiology, audiology, psychology, electrical en gineering, mathematics, and computer science, the participants engaged in lively discussion and debate. We think it is fair to say that there was an atmosphere of excitement and optimism for a field that is both fascinating and potentially lucrative. Of the many general results that can be taken from the workshop, two of the key ones are these: * The ways in which humans employ visual image for speech recogni tion are manifold and complex, and depend upon the talker-perceiver pair, severity and age of onset of any hearing loss, whether the topic of conversation is known or unknown, the level of noise, and so forth.

This book is one outcome of the NATO Advanced Studies Institute (ASI) Workshop, "Speechreading by Man and Machine," held at the Chateau de Bonas, Castera-Verduzan (near Auch, France) from August 28 to Septem ber 8, 1995 - the first interdisciplinary meeting devoted the subject of speechreading ("lipreading"). The forty-five attendees from twelve countries covered the gamut of speechreading research, from brain scans of humans processing bi-modal stimuli, to psychophysical experiments and illusions, to statistics of comprehension by the normal and deaf communities, to models of human perception, to computer vision and learning algorithms and hardware for automated speechreading machines. The first week focussed on speechreading by humans, the second week by machines, a general organization that is preserved in this volume. After the in evitable difficulties in clarifying language and terminology across disciplines as diverse as human neurophysiology, audiology, psychology, electrical en gineering, mathematics, and computer science, the participants engaged in lively discussion and debate. We think it is fair to say that there was an atmosphere of excitement and optimism for a field that is both fascinating and potentially lucrative. Of the many general results that can be taken from the workshop, two of the key ones are these: * The ways in which humans employ visual image for speech recogni tion are manifold and complex, and depend upon the talker-perceiver pair, severity and age of onset of any hearing loss, whether the topic of conversation is known or unknown, the level of noise, and so forth.

Erst wurde es dunkel. Schwarz stand Es ist schon etwas Merkwiirdiges Doch Licht ist nicht nur ein Hilfs- dann die Scheibe des Mondes vor der mit unseren Augen. Wir denken nicht mittel zum Sehen. Die elektromagne- Sonne. An der Seite ragten Pro tube- oft dariiber nach, was es mit dem tische Strahlung ist ein wichtiger Be- ranzen in die silbrig leuchtende Koro- Licht auf sich hat, das uns durch das standteil der Welt. Licht entsteht in na, himbeerfarben, kitschig rosa. Ich Leben fiihrt. Die Augen zeigen uns Atomen und wird in Atomen wieder sehe das Bild noch heute vor meinen nur ein oberfliichliches Bild von ihm. gefangen. An ihm hat der Mensch zu- Augen. Ebenso unvergeBlich wie diese Wer zwei Polarisationsfilter in die erst gelernt, daB die Welt von Quan- totale Sonnenfinsternis sind mir die Hand bekommt, merkt, wieviel mehr tengesetzen regiert wird. Es kann sich Tierbilder, die ich Jahre danach in den im Licht steckt. Wer eine Haushalts- in Materieteilchen verwandeln, und es Hohlen von Altamira im Fackellicht folie hinzunimmt, wundert sich iiber entsteht, wenn sich Materie und Anti- sah, vor 20000 Jahren von einem die Farbenpracht, die in den farblosen materie begegnen. Kiinstler an die Felswand gezeichnet. Filtern und Folien steckt. Die mo- Wenn der Mond die Sonne verfin- Wieder war es ein optischer Eindruck, derne Optik mit Lasern und Holo- stert, treten Protuberanzen und Koro- von dem ich so ergriffen wurde, daB er grammen gar eroffnet eine noch wun- na hervor.