Deaf people use the auditory cortex

People with congenital hearing loss use the 'hearing' part of the brain to sense touches and images from objects to compensate for hearing impairments.

The new study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience , shows that deaf people use the so-called "auditory cortex" to handle visual and tactile stimuli more than fully-sensed individuals. mandarin

Picture 1 of Deaf people use the auditory cortex
Deaf people make use of the auditory cortex for other senses

'This study shows how the brain is able to reconnect itself in many impressive ways ,' said Dr. James Battey, director of the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (USA).

American experts affirmed that the new research results will be interested by many other experts, especially those who are pursuing reports related to the ability of multi-sensory processing of the brain.

Previous studies have also hypothesized that people with hearing loss may use a different brain than people with normal hearing ability. For example, they feel more sensitive and look better than others.

During the study, participants were asked to wear a headset-like device, while inside the magnetic resonance scanner (MRI). The team created sensory and visual stimuli and observed the auditory cortex to see how the area responded.

The results show that the upper cortex in deaf people focuses strongly on sensory ability, even higher than image processing.