Researchers at the Universities of York and Sheffield found that adults who have been profoundly deaf since early life devote more of their visual brain to the far edges of their field of view.
The team used functional MRI scans to compare 16 adults with early, profound deafness with 16 hearing adults of similar ages.
The scans showed a larger neural representation of peripheral vision in parts of the brain that process and relay visual information.
The researchers say this shift may help deaf people notice movement and unexpected events outside their direct line of sight. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
