Understanding the visual mechanisms underlying reading abilities in deaf individuals
(2025)
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THESIS.pdf
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Details
- Authors
- Supervisors
- Crollen, Virginie
- Abstract
- This study explores the visual mechanisms that influence reading abilities in deaf individuals. Specifically, it aims to determine whether the enhanced visual skills associated with deafness facilitate or hinder the reading process. The studies are organized to examine reading at the letter level, the single word level, and simultaneously at both levels. The first study of this thesis demonstrates that visual constraints, such as crowding, impede processing for longer string lengths in the peripheral visual field. The second study indicates that deaf individuals may rely heavily on the first letter as a visual cue for orthographic representations. The third study suggests that deafness does not hinder top-down contextual processing and can effectively mitigate bottom-up challenges. The final study reveals that deafness may influence the processing of letters and words under conditions of simultaneous presentation especially in parafovea. A comprehensive discussion concludes the thesis by interpreting these new findings and proposing future research directions. Despite the diversity in deaf individuals' profiles, the overall findings suggest that their unique visual adaptations can pose challenges specific aspects of reading.
- Affiliations
Citations
Kamble, V. (2025). Understanding the visual mechanisms underlying reading abilities in deaf individuals. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/243379