Language
How Deaf Teens Process Speech, Sign, and Both Together
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Deaf adolescents primarily look at a speaker's mouth to capture speech and signs simultaneously, but combining signs with spoken language does not boost their overall text comprehension.
Key findings
Hearing students understood spoken stories better than deaf students understood any format, though deaf teens with early cochlear implants scored similarly to hearing peers. Deaf participants focused on the speaker's face 95.83% of the time during SSS and 95.93% during LSE. They attended the lower face area 72.2% of face-viewing time, compared to 51.4% for hearing participants, though looking at the speaker's body increased slightly when spatial details were signed.
Methodology
Researchers compared how 25 deaf students and 25 hearing students comprehended short stories. The deaf participants watched stories presented in different formats: spoken Spanish, Spanish Sign Language (LSE), and Sign-Supported Speech (SSS), which combines both. While they watched, an eye-tracking system monitored whether they looked at the speaker's eyes, mouth, or body.
Limitations
The study cannot prove that sign-supported speech is universally unhelpful, as the small subgroups (such as only five participants with early implants or five participants with native LSE sign language knowledge) limit statistical power. It also evaluated complex story comprehension rather than single words, meaning memory and attention demands might have masked the benefits of dual input. Additionally, the small screen representation of the speaker might have restricted natural eye movements.
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