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Multisensory spatial perception in visually impaired infants.

ABSTRACT: Congenitally blind infants are not only deprived of visual input but also of visual influences on the intact senses. The important role that vision plays in the early development of multisensory spatial perception^1-7 (e.g., in crossmodal calibration^8-10 and in the formation of multisensory spatial representations of the body and the world¹^,²) raises the possibility that impairments in spatial perception are at the heart of the wide range of difficulties that visually impaired infants show across spatial,^8-12 motor,^13-17 and social domains.⁸^,¹⁸^,¹⁹ But investigations of early development are needed to clarify how visually impaired infants' spatial hearing and touch support their emerging ability to make sense of their body and the outside world. We compared sighted (S) and severely visually impaired (SVI) infants' responses to auditory and tactile stimuli presented on their hands. No statistically reliable differences in the direction or latency of responses to auditory stimuli emerged, but significant group differences emerged in responses to tactile and audiotactile stimuli. The visually impaired infants showed attenuated audiotactile spatial integration and interference, weighted more tactile than auditory cues when the two were presented in conflict, and showed a more limited influence of representations of the external layout of the body on tactile spatial perception.²⁰ These findings uncover a distinct phenotype of multisensory spatial perception in early postnatal visual deprivation. Importantly, evidence of audiotactile spatial integration in visually impaired infants, albeit to a lesser degree than in sighted infants, signals the potential of multisensory rehabilitation methods in early development. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

SUBMITTER: Gori M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8612739 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:SignificanceVisually impaired participants were surprisingly fast in learning a new sensory substitution device, which allows them to detect obstacles within a 3.5-m radius and to find the optimal path in between. Within a few hours of training, participants successfully performed complex navigation as well as with the white cane.PurposeGlobally, millions of people live with vision impairment, yet effective assistive devices to increase their independence remain scarce. A promising method is the use of sensory substitution devices, which are human-machine interfaces transforming visual into auditory or tactile information. The Sound of Vision (SoV) system continuously encodes visual elements of the environment into audio-haptic signals. Here, we evaluated the SoV system in complex navigation tasks, to compare performance with the SoV system with the white cane, quantify training effects, and collect user feedback.MethodsSix visually impaired participants received eight hours of training with the SoV system, completed a usability questionnaire, and repeatedly performed assessments, for which they navigated through standardized scenes. In each assessment, participants had to avoid collisions with obstacles, using the SoV system, the white cane, or both assistive devices.ResultsThe results show rapid and substantial learning with the SoV system, with less collisions and higher obstacle awareness. After four hours of training, visually impaired people were able to successfully avoid collisions in a difficult navigation task as well as when using the cane, although they still needed more time. Overall, participants rated the SoV system's usability favorably.ConclusionsContrary to the cane, the SoV system enables users to detect the best free space between objects within a 3.5-m (up to 10-m) radius and, importantly, elevated and dynamic obstacles. All in all, we consider that visually impaired people can learn to adapt to the haptic-auditory representation and achieve expertise in usage through well-defined training within acceptable time.

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Multisensory spatial perception in visually impaired infants.

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