Deakin University
Browse

Early but not late-blindness leads to enhanced auditory perception

Version 2 2024-06-05, 05:14
Version 1 2019-08-07, 08:49
journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-05, 05:14 authored by CY Wan, Amanda WoodAmanda Wood, DC Reutens, SJ Wilson
The notion that blindness leads to superior non-visual abilities has been postulated for centuries. Compared to sighted individuals, blind individuals show different patterns of brain activation when performing auditory tasks. To date, no study has controlled for musical experience, which is known to influence auditory skills. The present study tested 33 blind (11 congenital, 11 early-blind, 11 late-blind) participants and 33 matched sighted controls. We showed that the performance of blind participants was better than that of sighted participants on a range of auditory perception tasks, even when musical experience was controlled for. This advantage was observed only for individuals who became blind early in life, and was even more pronounced for individuals who were blind from birth. Years of blindness did not predict task performance. Here, we provide compelling evidence that superior auditory abilities in blind individuals are not explained by musical experience alone. These results have implications for the development of sensory substitution devices, particularly for late-blind individuals. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

History

Journal

Neuropsychologia

Volume

48

Pagination

344-348

Location

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ISSN

0028-3932

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2009, Elsevier

Issue

1

Publisher

Elsevier

Usage metrics

    Research Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC