[nfb-talk] Fw: 'Blindness may rapidly enhance other senses'

[Ed Meskys]

I have always believed that the sensory nerves are not improved by 
blindness, but parts of the brain devoted to interpreting vision, the visual 
cortex?, get reassigned to interpreting other inputs. Thus while my touch, 
hearing are not more sensitive, we learn to pay more attention to the 
inputs. Ed Meskys


Subject: 'Blindness may rapidly enhance other senses'


'Blindness may rapidly enhance other senses'
By ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA (ASA)
JERUSALEM POST 05/13/2012 13:48
While this theory is widely regarded as being true, there are still many 
questions about the science behind it.
Can blindness or other forms of visual deprivation really enhance our other 
senses such as hearing or touch? While this theory is widely regarded as 
being true, there are still many questions about the science behind it.

New findings from a Canadian research team investigating this link suggest 
that not only is there a real connection between vision and other senses, 
but that connection is important to better understand the underlying 
mechanisms that can quickly trigger sensory changes. This may demystify the 
true potential of human adaptation and, ultimately, help develop innovative 
and effective methods for rehabilitation following sensory loss or injury.

François Champoux, director of the University of Montreal's Laboratory of 
Auditory Neuroscience Research, will present his team's research and 
findings at the Acoustics 2012 meeting in Hong Kong, May 13-18, a joint 
meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Acoustical Society of 
China, Western Pacific Acoustics Conference, and the Hong Kong Institute of 
Acoustics.

Studies have shown, in terms of hearing, that blind people are better at 
localizing sound. One study even suggested that blindness might improve the 
ability to differentiate between sound frequencies. "The supposed enhanced 
tactile abilities have been studied at a greater degree and can be seen as 
early as days or even minutes following blindness," says Champoux. "This 
rapid change in auditory ability hasn't yet been clearly demonstrated."

Two big questions about blindness and enhanced abilities remain unanswered: 
Can blindness improve more complex auditory abilities and, if so, can these 
changes be triggered after only a few minutes of visual deprivation, similar 
to those seen with tactile abilities?

"When we speak or play a musical instrument, the sounds have specific 
harmonic relations. In other words, if we play a certain note on a piano, 
that note has many related 'layers.' However, we don't hear all of these 
layers because our brain simply associates them all together and we only 
hear the lowest one," Champoux explains.

It's through this complex computation based on specific components of the 
sound that the brain can interpret and distinguish auditory signals coming 
from different people or instruments. The ability to identify harmonicity - 
the harmonic relation between sounds - is one of the most powerful factors 
involved in interpreting our auditory surroundings.

"Harmonicity can easily be evaluated using a simple task in which similar 
harmonic layers are set up and one of them is gradually modified until the 
individual notices two layers instead of one," says Champoux. "In our study, 
healthy individuals completed such a task while blindfolded. This task was 
administered twice, separated by a 90-minute interval during which the 
participants conversed with the experimenter in a quiet room. Half of the 
participants kept the blindfold on during the interval period, depriving 
them of all visual input, while the other half removed their blindfolds."

They found no significant differences between the two groups in their 
ability to differentiate harmonicity prior to visual deprivation. However, 
the results of the testing session following visual deprivation revealed 
that visually deprived individuals performed significantly better than the 
group that took their blindfolds off.

"Regardless of the neural basis for such an enhancement, our results suggest 
that the potential for change in auditory perception is much greater than 
previously assumed," Champoux notes.

This article was first published at www.newswise.com


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