I used to be a partial with a hearing los. After loosing my sight I became 
more aware of the changes in acoustics as I passedby buildings, entering 
different hallways in buildings ect. However, the year I came out here to 
California, I had my hearing tested in Ohio. I still had the hearing los. I 
think that, now that my sight is gone, never to return, I'm paying much more 
attention to the things I hear. At least I'm trying to. 73. Doug, N6NFF

-----Original Message----- 
From: Tom Brennan
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 1:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: OT: Blind-folding May Improve Hearing

There have been experiments done (including with humans) that indicate 
several
things.  Congenitally blind folks actually do have better hearing probably
because they are using parts of the visual cortex to help process sound.
Second, blind foldes subjects seem to "listen better" but until recently 
there
was no good evidence of a true hearing difference.  Third, new evidence is
beginning to come in that prolonged blindfolding may improve hearing.  There 
is
still a question as to whether this is permanent (it seems not to be) and 
how
much improvement there really is.

All told, its a really interesting area.

As an aside, those blinded in later life do show some demonstrable hearing
improvement but not as much as the congenitally blind.

Tom


Tom Brennan  KD5VIJ, CCC-A/SLP
web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html