How deafness reshapes early visual processing in the brain

How are the functions of the brain reorganised when a sensory input is no longer available? Evidence suggests that other senses may compensate; for example D/deaf adults outperform hearing controls in certain visual tasks, particularly in the far periphery.

While hearing people may rely on sound to notice events outside their direct line of sight, D/deaf individuals use their peripheral vision as an early warning system to detect sudden movement. We used a novel approach to test the far periphery where visual sensitivity differences between D/deaf and hearing adults are greatest, an area overlooked by previous brain-mapping studies.

We mapped early visual structures in the brain and found they allocated more neural resources to processing far peripheral vision in early D/deaf compared to hearing adults. Moreover, this redistribution of resources appeared to be augmented by visual sign language experience.

Our findings suggest that lifelong sensory experience can physically reshape the brain's earliest visual pathways to support peripheral vision.

Publication

Levine AT, Yuen K, Gouws A, Wade AR, Morland AB, Codina C, Buckley D, Baseler HA. (2026). Retinotopic remapping of the visual system in deaf adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123(36), e2532413123.

Lead researcher

Dr Heidi Baseler, Hull York Medical School