Hearing is not all down to your ears

18 March 2010

A fascinating event looking at sign language research is to be held at University College London on 20 March as part of the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) Festival of Social Science (21-21 March). The vast majority of research studies on language and thought are based on languages which are spoken and heard, so this event will provide an innovative and fresh approach.

The DCAL open day will include lectures, hands on activities and sign language poetry and film performances. It has been organised by the Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL). The centre's research provides a unique perspective on language and thought based on deaf people's communication.

The event will explore how the brain works and whether there is such a thing as a 'deaf brain'. A deaf person's brain can understand sign language in a very similar way to a hearing person's brain processes spoken language. The same parts of the brain are used when we are listening whether we are using our ears or using sign language to communicate. Understanding the Broca and Wernicke, the language processing areas of the brain, has helped to uncover how deaf people interpret sign language.

Organiser Robert Adam said "We hope to have over 100 deaf community members, friends and colleagues along on the day to find out how we research British Sign Language, what our research has found about deaf people and the way our brains may work differently".

The unique event provides an exciting opportunity to showcase the valuable work of the UK's social scientists and demonstrate how their work has supported the deaf community.

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