Brains of Blind People Adapt to Sharpen Sense of Hearing, Study Shows

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April 22, 2019

Blindness Neuroscience Visual Processing

Clinical Research

Grantee

Research has shown that people who are born blind or become blind early in life often have a more nuanced sense of hearing, especially when it comes to musical abilities and tracking moving objects in space (imagine crossing a busy road using sound alone). For decades scientists have wondered what changes in the brain might underlie these enhanced auditory abilities.

Now, a pair of research papers published the week of April 22 from the University of Washington use functional MRI to identify two differences in the brains of blind individuals that might be responsible for their abilities to make better use of auditory information.