Language processing in visually and non-visually impaired individuals: the use of Auditory Event-Related Potentials

This study examines the electrical brain activity of visually impaired individuals. Its aim is to identify differences in latency and signal amplitude between visually and non-visually impaired individuals in order to improve the school experience of students with visual impairment. The experiment included five visually impaired and five non-visually impaired subjects. Auditory stimuli included words with and without semantic content, i.e. actual words and pseudo-words, and Auditory Evoked Potentials were recorded. Results show that visually impaired individuals process auditory stimuli faster, regardless if the words lack semantic content, in comparison to their non-visually impaired counterparts. The study also showed variations in signal amplitude between the two groups.