Background: It is reasonable to expect that deaf individuals require the use of vision for purposes
other than those needed by hearing persons. For example, without the use of hearing,
one would need to scan the environment visually to determine if someone was approaching
rather than listening for footsteps or a name being called. Furthermore, these experiential
differences could alter the development of neural organization of sensory systems
of deaf persons.
Purpose: To review the evidence-based literature in the area of visual attention and deafness
with an emphasis on a series of visual attention studies utilizing several paradigms
including the Continuous Performance Task, the Letter Cancellation Task, the Flanker
Task, and a self-designed task of target identification in the periphery under distracter
and nondistracter conditions conducted at Vanderbilt University.
Research Design: Systematic review
Results: Collectively, the Vanderbilt studies pointed to a compensatory role that the visual
system plays for deaf individuals. Specifically, the visual system appears to play
an important role in directing a deaf individual's attention to the near visual periphery.
Conclusions: Studies of visual attention in deaf individuals have been mixed in their conclusions
about whether altered neural organization results in better or worse visual attention
abilities by those who are deaf relative to those with normal hearing. The notion
of across-the-board deficits or enhancements in the visual function of deaf individuals
is not supported by the literature, nor is there support for the idea that fundamental
visual sensory abilities such as acuity or light detection differ between deaf and
hearing persons.
Key Words
Deafness - neural organization - visual attention
