Cross-modal Plasticity

A neurological phenomenon in which brain regions typically dedicated to processing one sensory modality are repurposed to process information from another sense, often as a result of sensory deprivation. In deaf individuals, auditory cortical areas can reorganise to support enhanced visual processing, resulting in improved motion detection, wider peripheral vision, and faster reaction times to peripheral stimuli. This plasticity underlies the heightened visual cognition observed in DHH populations and has important implications for designing accessible technologies that leverage these enhanced visual capabilities.