A company called 3Dmsg is working on creating avatars that can be lip read - and that you can do a cutaway with (think cross sectional view). Their primary market at the moment seems to be teaching languages to both non-deaf and deaf, but there's speculation that this could be used in cellphones to assist lip readers. The argument is that it's simple enough that you can generate the avatar on your own phone (no news on whether this includes processing at the company's central servers, with some sort of markup being sent to you - I suspect it does, which is fine), meaning (a) the person you're talking to doesn't have to have a video phone or hold their cell in an odd position, (b) you can customize the avatar to make it suit your needs and preferences perfectly, (c) doesn't take as much bandwidth.

I want my avatar to be modeled after this guy. Especially if he can pop up now and then with clips from the movie - maybe "Pay attention, Bond!" when I check my voicemail?

Sweet. With Starkey's Eli coming on the market, news that similar technology could be integrated into hearing aids in the next year or two (read: not too long before mine will need replacing), and now this news of a lip readable avatar in development, cell phone accessibility for the deaf and HOH is looking better and better.