Effects of Auditory Deprivation on Cutaneous Sensitivity

Abstract

Numerous experiments have shown that visual deprivation (darkness) produces cross-modal sensory enhancement effects. Only recently it has been demonstrated that auditory deprivation can produce similar effects. An experiment was conducted where subjects were exposed to a 1-wk. period of auditory deprivation (silence) with measures of their tactual fusion threshold being taken at daily intervals. The experimental subjects showed, relative to a control condition, a lowering of their threshold. The results are discussed in the context of the sensoristatic model, and the latter's capacity to account for these effects.