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Spatial constraints on attention to speech in the blind
P Bertelson1, J Morais, P Mousty
1Université libre de Bruxelles, Laboratoire de Psychologie expérimentale, Belgium.
Brain and Language
|September 1, 1987
Summary
Blind individuals lack a frontal advantage in sound localization but retain a superior right-side advantage compared to sighted individuals. This suggests auditory spatial processing differs in the absence of sight.
Area of Science:
- Auditory Neuroscience
- Sensory Perception
- Human Neuropsychology
Background:
- Sighted individuals exhibit a frontal advantage and a right-side advantage in identifying speech from different directions.
- The neural underpinnings and sensory dependencies of these spatial processing advantages are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate auditory spatial processing, specifically the frontal and right-side advantages, in blind individuals.
- To explore the impact of visual deprivation on sound localization and its relation to hemispheric lateralization.
Main Methods:
- Comparison of speech sound localization performance between a group of 10 blind subjects and 16 sighted control subjects.
- Assessment of both frontal (front vs. rear) and lateral (right vs. left) sound source identification accuracy.
Main Results:
- Blind subjects demonstrated no significant frontal position advantage, unlike sighted controls.
- Blind subjects exhibited a right-side advantage that was superior to that of sighted subjects.
- No significant differences were observed between congenitally blind and non-congenitally blind individuals.
Conclusions:
- The frontal advantage in auditory spatial processing appears to depend on visual experience, possibly related to orienting behaviors.
- The preserved or enhanced right-side advantage in blind individuals challenges theories suggesting reduced language lateralization in the absence of sight.