Abstract
Benedetti and Loeb (1972) have established that loss of vision (blindness) can be associated with enhancement in the quality of auditory vigilance. The present study demonstrates that loss of hearing (deafness) can result in an analogous enhancement with regard to visual vigilance. Legally deaf and normal-hearing adults monitored a visual display continuously for 45 min. Critical signals for detection were occasional increments in the horizontal movements of a bar of light. The deaf observers detected significantly more signals with no higher false alarm rates than the normals. The superiority of the deaf is attributed to the transfer of practiced variables related to more efficient utilization of visual information.
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This project was supported by Grant MCT-000-912-16-0, awarded to the Bureau of Community Health Services, by the Health Services Administration, Public Health Service, DHEW, and by Grant 59-P-25 297/5-08, awarded by Region V, Social and Rehabilitation Service, DHEW. The authors are grateful to the following individuals for their assistance in securing deaf participants: William DeMeo (St. Rita School for the Deaf), Daniel Langholtz (Cincinnati Speech and Hearing Center), Doris Mangold, Connie Ritze, and Rosie Schwartz. Thanks are also extended to William DeMeo, John Bowers, Clare Kibler, and Jacqueline Williamson for giving instructions to the deaf in ASL, and to Ruth Vernier for her assistance in testing subjects.
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Dittmar, M.L., Berch, D.B. & Warm, J.S. Sustained visual attention in deaf and hearing adults. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 19, 339–342 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330276
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330276