Book 2, Question 67
Why Does Darkness Make Hearing Feel Sharper?
Hearing feels sharper in the dark because the brain pays more attention to sound when it cannot see much.
In the dark, it feels as if your hearing gets sharper. Your ears did not change, though. Your brain simply pays more attention to sound when it cannot see much.
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Quick answers
Do blind people hear better?
People born blind or who lose their sight early often have a finer sense of hearing, and their brains are wired differently.
Sources: National Institutes of Health, Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, National Institutes of Health
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 2
More fun facts
- People who are born blind or lose their sight early often have a finer sense of hearing.
- They are often especially good at music and at tracking where moving sounds are going.
- Brain scans show that the brains of people blind from early childhood are wired differently.
- In blind people, parts of the brain usually used for seeing can take on other jobs, even math.
- Some blind people have learned to echolocate, using echoes to find their way, like bats.
- In an experiment, adult mice that spent a short time in darkness got better at hearing.
Sources: National Institutes of Health, Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, National Institutes of Health
Questions kids ask
Do blind people really hear better?
Many people who are blind from early in life do have a finer sense of hearing, because their brains rewire.