Latency of Head Movements of Normal Hearing and Auditorially Handicapped Children

Abstract

19 auditory handicapped and 19 hearing children (4- to 12-yr.-old) were compared for performance on a visual localization task during which visual stimuli were presented both within and beyond the initial field of view. In the latter situations the localization response depends, initially on a cognitive map of the surrounding environment. The youngest group (4-and 5-yr.-old) of auditorially handicapped children showed, relative to their non-deaf peers, slower latencies of head movements to stimuli beyond their initial field of view. This finding is interpreted as these subjects having at their disposal a less precise, less adequate, cognitive map of the environment, possibly arising from a disturbed crossmodal integration as a consequence of the absence of auditory input.