When we think about something, we hear an inner voice that speaks our native language. But what kind of voice is in the heads of people who are deaf from birth or who lost their hearing at an early age? It is extremely difficult to answer this question, because every person with deafness does it differently. How they do this depends on many factors – for example, on the age at which a person lost his hearing. In addition, the way of thinking is greatly influenced by whether a person can communicate in sign language. And some people do not have an internal monologue at all and do not even know how to fantasize. It seems like a very interesting topic for discussion!
What sounds in the heads of deaf people? Scientists could not find the answer to this question for a long time. Image source: americanhearing.us
How Deaf People Think
What language do deaf people think in? The answer may seem ridiculously simple — it depends on what languages they speak, according to IFL Science. But it's actually much more complicated.
Linguistics professor Bencie Woll believes that deaf children, who have not heard sounds since birth, tend to “talk” to themselves using gestures. That is, they don't hear sounds in their heads, but rather images of various hand movements. You could say that sign language becomes the basis of their thinking.
Letters of the alphabet in English sign language. Image source: pinterest.com
It turns out that deaf people think not in words, but in images. They can represent their thoughts in the form of gestures, written words or pictures – as they are used to. This does not mean that their inner world is less rich or less vivid, it is simply expressed through a different “language”. Some deaf people, especially those who did not lose their hearing at birth, can combine images and sounds in their thinking, since they have memories of how speech sounds.
What are the sign languages
It is important to note that sign language is not universal – there are about 300 different types of sign languages in the world. The most common are American Sign Language (ASL), British Sign Language (BSL), French Sign Language (LSF), and Russian Sign Language (RZh). All of these languages are different from each other, so when deaf people think, they use the sign language they communicate in.
Even in countries that speak the same spoken language, sign languages can vary significantly, reflecting the cultural and historical characteristics of each nation.
Letters of the alphabet in Russian sign language. Image source: Pinterest
Interestingly, when deaf people “talk” in their minds using gestures, the same area of the brain is activated as in hearing people when they think in words. This proves that internal sign language works in the same way as internal speech and plays an important role in thinking and memory processes.
Read also: What is musical impotence and how does it manifest itself?
Lack of internal dialogue and fantasies
It is important to note that even among hearing people there are those who think not in words, but in images – deaf people are not alone in this regard. The results of scientific research have shown that some people do not conduct an internal dialogue, as most do. Their thoughts do not sound in their heads, but are formed from images or other abstract concepts that are not associated with speech. This may seem strange, but for such people it is absolutely natural.
For some people, internal dialogue is more of a hindrance than a help. Image source: Reddit
Another interesting phenomenon is aphantasia. This is a condition in which a person is unable to imagine mental images, that is, they cannot fantasize and do not even understand how this is possible. People with aphantasia cannot “see” pictures in their minds, and it is not yet clear how this manifests itself in the deaf. At the moment, there is practically no research on this topic, and it remains a mystery how people without auditory or visual thoughts organize their thinking.
Some people don't even understand what fantasies are. Image source: Zen
Ultimately, it turns out that thinking is an incredibly complex process that manifests itself in each person in their own way. Some people think through internal monologues, some tend to think in images, and some have no internal monologue at all. Our brain is able to adapt to any conditions.
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Fortunately, today it is possible to restore hearing with the help of modern technology. To find out more, read our article “A boy's hearing was restored with the help of genetic engineering – medicine has been working towards this for 20 years.”