The brain scans, according to study co-author Dr. Maria Chait, “showed that people were not only ignoring o filtering out the sounds, they were not actually hearing them in the first place”.
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A person can become temporarily deaf to environmental sounds when engaged in a visual task, according to new research. There was also a higher rate of failure to detect sounds, even when the sounds were clearly audible. It is not for the first time when scientists have observed the phenomenon but until now they haven’t been able to determine that effects are caused by brain mechanisms of auditory processing, by measuring brain activity in real-time using magnetoencephalography (MEG).
The study shows that people should not feel bad when their friend, busy in studying, playing or watching TV, does not give response. It seems amusing, but unsafe on the other hand when surgeon busy in doing some work fails to hear the equipment beeping.
‘It also applies to drivers concentrating on complex satnav directions as well as cyclists and motorists who are focusing intently on something such as an advert or even simply an interesting-looking passer-by.
This deficit of “inattentional” deafness can be not only disturbing for the people around you but can also create you difficulties.
The story could have significant implications in encouraging people to leave their bad habits like texting while driving so that they can hear to sirens or horns at right time to prevent accidents.
Publishing their finding in the Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers established that the wiring of the human brain does not allow humans to concentrate equally on two or more separate tasks – and when people try to multitask on tasks that require equal amount of attention, the brain is forced to prioritize attention to the task that is visually in progress and less attention to the task based on hearing.
This is great news for spouses the world over who’ve long pleaded, “But I really didn’t hear you!”
“When the task was easier we could see a brain signal indicating they could hear the tone”, Lavie says. Inattentional deafness is a common experience for all of us. A recent study has shown that in those relationships where phubbing occurs often (phone snubbing), partners feel unhappy, ignored and resentful.
She said: ‘Shouting might help’. Or to put it another way, if the person is far too tied up using most of their brainpower for visual purposes, there may not be enough left over for the brain to register hearing.
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“In order to hear, we don’t just need our ears to be operating; we need our brain to respond to the sound”, reported Nilli Lavie, the study’s lead and professor of psychology and brain sciences at the University College London.
