Weaver Kurt E, Stevens Alexander A
Department Of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
Hear Res. 2006 Jan;211(1-2):1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2005.08.002. Epub 2005 Oct 26.
For blind individuals, audition provides critical information for interacting with the environment. Individuals blinded early in life (EB) typically show enhanced auditory abilities relative to sighted controls as measured by tasks requiring complex discrimination, attention and memory. In contrast, few deficits have been reported on tasks involving auditory sensory thresholds (e.g., Yates, J.T., Johnson, R.M., Starz, W.J., 1972. Loudness perception of the blind. Audiology 11(5), 368-376; Starlinger, I., Niemeyer, W., 1981. Do the blind hear better? Investigations on auditory processing in congenital or early acquired blindness. I. Peripheral functions. Audiology 20(6), 503-509). A study of gap detection stands at odds with this distinction [Muchnik, C., Efrati, M., Nemeth, E., Malin, M., Hildesheimer, M., 1991. Central auditory skills in blind and sighted subjects. Scand. Audiol. 20(1), 19-23]. In the current investigation we re-examined gap detection abilities in the EB using a single-interval, yes/no method. A group of younger sighted control individuals (SCy) was included in the analysis in addition to EB and sighted age matched control individuals (SCm) in order to examine the effect of age on gap detection performance. Estimates of gap detection thresholds for EB subjects were nearly identical to SCm subjects and slightly poorer relative to the SCy subjects. These results suggest some limits on the extent of auditory temporal advantages in the EB.
对于盲人而言，听觉为其与环境互动提供关键信息。早年失明（EB）的个体，相较于视力正常的对照组，在需要复杂辨别、注意力和记忆的任务测试中，通常表现出更强的听觉能力。相比之下，在涉及听觉感觉阈值的任务中，很少有缺陷被报告（例如，耶茨，J.T.，约翰逊，R.M.，斯塔兹，W.J.，1972年。盲人的响度感知。听力学11(5)，368 - 376；施塔林格，I.，尼迈耶，W.，1981年。盲人听力更好吗？先天性或早期获得性失明的听觉处理研究。I. 外周功能。听力学20(6)，503 - 509）。一项关于间隙检测的研究与这种差异相悖[穆奇尼克，C.，埃弗拉蒂，M.，内梅特，E.，马林，M.，希尔德斯海默，M.，1991年。盲人与视力正常者的中枢听觉技能。斯堪的纳维亚听力学20(1)，19 - 23]。在当前的研究中，我们使用单间隔、是/否方法重新检查了早年失明者的间隙检测能力。除了早年失明者和年龄匹配的视力正常对照组（SCm）外，分析中还纳入了一组年轻的视力正常对照组个体（SCy），以研究年龄对间隙检测性能的影响。早年失明受试者的间隙检测阈值估计值与年龄匹配的视力正常对照组受试者几乎相同，相对于年轻的视力正常对照组受试者略差。这些结果表明早年失明者听觉时间优势的程度存在一定限制。
