# People blind since infancy are said to hear better, but the difference isn’t in their ears

Source: [Earth.com](https://www.earth.com/science/people-blind-since-infancy-are-said-to-hear-better-but-the-difference-isnt-in-their-ears/) · 2026-11-11 · Earth & Climate
Page: https://themorning.science/story/people-blind-since-infancy-are-said-to-hear-better-but-the-difference-isn-t-in-t-3d99fd3df1ab5bbc
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- Adults blind since infancy did no better than sighted adults at detecting a faint tone hidden in noise, a test of the ear itself.
- Their advantage appeared elsewhere: the excerpt says they pulled ahead on telling whether a sound came from a particular direction or location, but it is cut off before the full description.
- The popular belief that early-blind people hear better across the board is not supported for the ear itself.

## Why it matters

It suggests that any better hearing in people blind since infancy may come from how the brain processes sound rather than from more sensitive ears, which matters for researchers studying sensory compensation.

## Coverage

- [People blind since infancy are said to hear better, but the difference isn’t in their ears](https://www.earth.com/science/people-blind-since-infancy-are-said-to-hear-better-but-the-difference-isnt-in-their-ears/) — Earth.com, 2026-11-11

Tags: hearing, blindness, auditory-perception, neuroscience, sensory-compensation

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science