A comparison of auditory monitoring performance in blind subjects with that of sighted subjects in light and dark

Two experiments were performed in which blind Ss, sighted Ss working in the dark, and sighted Ss working in the light were compared as to their efficiency on an auditory watchkeeping task. Absolute and differential auditory thresholds were measured in both experiments, and in the second experiment the groups also underwent a signal detection session under alerted conditions. There was some inconsistency as to relative performance of the sighted groups, but in both experiments the blind Ss were superior on the auditory watchkeeping task as to signals detected and effective sensitivity (d’). 1 This difference was not attributable to a difference in auditory sensitivity or to a criterion adopted for