Intentional Deafness Experiment

So, I've always been interested in self-improvement.  I feel that intentional adaptation is one of mankind's best abilities and try to make use of it often.  Today I came up with the following idea.

I've wanted to learn to lip read for quite a while.  The problem is that it is nearly impossible to teach oneself lip reading.  You need another person to be talking nearby who doesn't care whether you understand or not (since you won't for the first few weeks).  Eavesdropping is one simple method, but it doesn't allow you to double check your understanding.  on the other hand, friends are rarely willing to spend hours talking at you when they know you won't understand most of what they say.

Being in class, I then had a great idea: why not try to lip read the teacher during class.  Usually during a course, you have enough information about the subject to guess the nature of the lecture.  Also, the widespread use of visual aids can help keep you on track.  not to mention, the teacher expects you to pay full attention to them, and won't notice if you don't understand (I am talking about large lectures here).  I have two large lectures that fit the criteria, both of which I am certain enough of my note taking that I would risk trying it.

There are still a few things that make such an experiment difficult though.  ensuring that I can't hear the teacher is the main difficulty.  While loud music works in some situations, large lecture are often of volume levels that i wouldn't want to attempt it.

Thus, I've begun looking into way to reduce ambient noise to sub-audible levels.  My quick research has provided 3 easy methods to produce the intended effects.

First, combine earplugs with noise canceling headphones.  This combination can produce reduce sound by 80+ dB (nearby motorcycles are barely audible).  However, good noise canceling headphones cost $200 to $500, so I've thrown that idea out.

Second, combine earplugs with a construction headset.  This produces a constant -65 dB, which enough to bring most conversations below whispers.  However, in a loud lecture hall, this will not be enough.

The third option combines music earplugs with a construction headset.  This reduces sound by a mere 55 dB.  However, by playing a constant static on the earphones this can be reduced even farther.  The volume of the static directly subtracts from the ambient noise, so a 50dB static would boost the noise reduction to 105dB!  This combination is least like real deafness though.

I'm still working through the budget on this one, so i'll be updating more if this ever gets off the ground.