The brain integrates simultaneous information from several senses. It transfers information from one sense to another. And, it reorganises itself when one of the senses is impaired. All of this improves our reaction time, precision, and recognition accuracy (see our blog for Multisensory processing, crossmodal correspondences between the senses, and crossmodal brain plasticity and empowering of sensory abilities). But what happens when more senses are impaired?
I have invited K.H. to share her experiences of living with deafblindness. K.H. was born with about 10% vision – a severe visual impairment. She has had periods of losing and regaining vision: currently with about 0.5% visual acuity, which corresponds to being blind. In addition, K.H. was born with moderate to severe hearing loss. Her hearing loss is most severe in the middle of the pitch range, which is where people’s voices typically lie when talking. She struggles to recognise voices, where a sound comes from, and how far away they are. K.H. approved this text before we posted it on our blog.
So, how does K.H. use her senses on their own and together?
“It’s like working on a jigsaw puzzle where a lot of the pieces are missing: I have to search for as many pieces as I possibly can using vision, hearing, and touch and, then, piece them all together to get the full picture. I have to guess a lot, which is exhausting, and I often get it wrong because I’ve not recognised or found a piece. I’m constantly in a state of high alert and fear of making a fool of myself.”
K.H. describes searching for specific sensory information, that what she searches for is determined by what she is doing, and where one sense fails other senses step in. In traffic, for example, she describes using vision alone and hearing alone to recognise separate landmarks, like a red house by vision and an open area by hearing. She uses hearing and vision to determine if cars and people are moving, and in what direction – first hearing, then vision to double-check. K.H. describes using hearing alone to judge the distance to walls, other people, etc., and her feet to check tactile information about kerbs and steps. And both hearing and touch when crossing the street – listening for the sound on a signal-controlled crossing first, then touching the spinning cone to double-check.
I have become experienced in knowing what sensory information I need, for example, from vision to support hearing.
Is K.H. ever not in a state of high alert?
She describes dropping her guard when she is home alone because nobody might talk to her, show her something, etc. Another example is at a concert together with a guide she trusts and who is also skilled in using social haptic communication. Certainly, she takes every opportunity to have a “sense break”: relaxing her vision either by playing a game on her mobile phone with easy-to-see colours and lots of repetitions or by lying down in a dark room. She relaxes her hearing by listening to music (the melody, not the lyrics) or a podcast that she does not have to pay attention to. K.H. sometimes relaxes both senses and sometimes one sense while focusing on the other; for example, relaxing vision by playing a game on her mobile phone or touching the texture of her clothes while focusing her hearing on the lecturer.
I feel I hear them better when vision doesn’t have to work so hard or is completely “closed off”.
Also, physical exercise in non-demanding sensory environments gives her brain some time off.
Does K.H. enjoy a sensory experience – do they give her pleasure?
K.H. describes enjoying birdsong and music. And bright colours, like the blue sky or sea, green trees or hills, and the reds and yellows in a sunset or flower: especially, in combination with the smell and sound of the sea or forest. But she has to be either with a guide or on her own and standing still or sitting down. As soon as she knows somebody other than her guide might seek her attention or she starts moving, she goes right back to high alert mode.
It seems K.H. has a plan for what to search for both in the preferred and the supplementing sense, often used to double-check the correctness of the favoured sense. K.H. does not describe focusing on any of the information that research has found to transfer from one sense to another, like shape. Perhaps she cannot see or hear it? It is almost as if K.H. perceives the world linearly – in a string of well-organised sensory information. Only when she is enjoying a sensory experience, does K.H. describe appreciating a scene of multisensory information, for example, the birdsong, colour, and smell of the forest.
See our blog for Activities; especially 37-39.
