Visual communication before CI use does not harm deaf children

Professor Dr. Andrej Kral with a multi-electrode array in front of an amplifier for brain wave measurement; Copyright: Karin Kaiser / MHH - People born deaf use parts of the auditory brain area for vision. However, this does not hinder the recovery of the sense of hearing, MHH researchers found. Humans have five senses to perceive their environment: Sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. If a person loses one of these, the remaining senses partially compensate for the loss. People born deaf then have enhanced visual abilities. "Cross-modal plasticity" is what science calls the brain's ability to turn to another sensory system when one is lost. Until now, the textbook view has been that a takeover of the auditory system occurs in deafness, with the visual system, for example, irrevocably taking over parts of the auditory cortex.