Do the blind hear better? Investigations on auditory processing in congenital or early acquired blindness. I. Peripheral functions.

18 normally hearing blind students and 18 matched normal-sighted students were compared with regard to differential auditory sensitivity and acoustic reflex thresholds. Evaluation of interaural time differences for directional hearing and acoustic reflex thresholds showed no differences between the groups. The difference limen for intensity when interpreted by the SISI test, and the difference limen for frequency revealed a slightly optimizing trend in the blind group. However, differences missed statistical significance as to difference limen for intensity and, in the 3-orange, also as to difference limen for frequency. Any superior hearing of the blind was not mirrored by a corresponding superiority in peripheral supraliminal performance.