Article: Study suggests blind people compensate with more acute hearing

JANE E. ALLEN AP Science Writer
AP Online
09-16-1998
It might be true what they say about the blind having better hearing than people who can see.

Blind people apparently compensate for their lost vision with greater ability to locate sounds than people with normal or partial vision, a Canadian study suggests.

Neuropsychology researchers at the University of Montreal found that unlike people with normal vision, blind people could correctly pinpoint the source of sounds even with one ear deliberately blocked by the testers.

Normally, people use the subtle differences in the way sounds reach each of their ears to tell where a noise originates.

Experts who did not take part in ...

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