The paradox of performing a phonemic task without sound

Azbel, L. (2004) How do the deaf read? The paradox of performing a phonemic task without sound. Intel Science Talent Search. Abstract Hearing individuals read by converting printed letters into a phonological code that feeds into their auditory language system. So how do the deaf read? To solve this puzzle, we asked hearing and deaf participants to read while performing other tasks. Tasks that use the same pathway as reading should interfere. Remembering a phone number and speaking decreased the reading rate of hearing readers, confirming that they read phonemically. Surprisingly, the reading rate of the deaf readers was unaffected by the secondary tasks. This suggests that the deaf use an alternate pathway, specific to reading, not used by people who hear.