Sound lateralization test in adolescent blind individuals.
Blind individuals require to compensate for the lack of visual information by other sensory inputs. In particular, auditory inputs are crucial to such individuals. To investigate whether blind individuals localize sound in space better than sighted individuals, we tested the auditory ability of adolescent blind individuals using a sound lateralization method. The interaural time difference discrimination thresholds of blind individuals were statistically significantly shorter than those of blind individuals with residual vision and controls. These findings suggest that blind individuals have better auditory spatial ability than individuals with visual cues; therefore, some perceptual compensation occurred in the former.
Yabe
Takao
T
Department of Otolaryngology, National Disaster Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan. orl@tdmc.hosp.go.jp
Kaga
Kimitaka
K
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000379:methods; D001766:Blindness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology*; D013017:Sound Localization; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D019987:Persons with Visual Disabilities