Comparison of Auditory Processing and Memory in Blind and Sighted People: A Systematic Review

Abstract

One of the most important issues in blind people is their memory and auditory processing. The purpose of this research was to systematically review the researches conducted in the field of auditory processing and types of memory of blind people compared to sighted people. The method of this research was a systematic review of 26 articles in the years 1388-1395 and 2004-2022 in the field of research related to memory and auditory processing of blind people compared to sighted people using Google Scholar, Eric, EBSCO, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, as well as Magiran, SID, Comprehensive Humanities Portal, Iran Doc, Noormags with the keywords of blindness, visual impairment, auditory processing, sighted and congenitally blind were used and selected for systematic reviews. The findings showed that out of 1381 sample groups, 48 percent were blind and 715 sighted participated. 30% of the studies in the field of short-term memory, 33% in the field of auditory-verbal memory, 15% in working memory, 11% in spatial memory, 7% in olfactory memory and 4% in numerical memory compared blind and sighted people. The findings indicated that, in general, in short-term memory, auditory-verbal memory, and working memory, the performance of blind people was better than that of sighted people. In the field of spatial memory, the results were inconsistent, and there was no significant difference between the olfactory memory of blind and sighted people. In terms of numerical memory, the performance of sighted people was better. In general, it is better to conduct more research focusing on one type of memory so that all aspects of it can be clarified.

Keywords

• vision
• auditory processing
• memory
• blindness