People that cannot see hear better.
As a result, they can move through everyday life easier.
But blind people can also process speech better!
Numerous scientific studies have come to this conclusion.
Researchers had test subjects listen to recordings.
The speed of speech was then considerably increased.
Despite this, the blind test subjects could understand the recordings.
The test subjects who could see, on the other hand, could hardly understand.
The rate of speaking was too high for them.
Another experiment came to similar results.
Seeing and blind test subjects listened to various sentences.
Part of each sentence was manipulated.
The last word was replaced with a nonsense word.
The test subjects had to assess the sentences.
They had to decide if the sentences were sensible or nonsense.
While they were working through the sentences, their brains were analyzed.
Researchers measured certain brain waves.
By doing so, they could see how quickly the brain solved the task.
In the blind test subjects, a certain signal appeared very quickly.
This signal indicates that a sentence has been analyzed.
In the seeing test subjects, this signal appeared much later.
Why blind people process speech more efficiently is not yet known.
But scientists have a theory.
They believe that their brain uses a particular brain region intensively.
It is the region with which seeing people process visual stimuli.
This region isn't used for seeing in blind people.
So it is ‘available’ for other tasks.
For this reason, the blind have a greater capacity to process speech…
