Aubrey Hatch and Michael Jones, Computer Science

My project was designed to increase our understanding of the neurological processes of deaf individuals to shape future adaptive technologies to facilitate better education for the deaf community. More specifically, my goal was to focus on the cognitive differences between deaf and hearing individuals when presented with different types of linguistic stimuli such as: a spoken word, a written word, a signed video of a word, or a picture that represents a specific word. By increasing our understanding of these cognitive differences, I hoped to help increase the capabilities of future adaptive technological devices that would be beneficial for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

In order to pursue this study, I received the appropriate certification needed to work within Brigham Young University’s MRI facility, which was the environment where we planned to collect data for this project. Once certified, I began searching for volunteers who were between the ages of 8-10 and were either deaf or hearing who would be willing to participate in this study. Unfortunately, finding deaf children who were willing and able to participate in this project was more difficult than we had thought. We offered compensation for their time and attempted to get the word out the best we could, but we were unable to find any deaf volunteers within the time frame given this past semester. However, we were able to schedule four different hearing children to come in and participate in this study.

Once the parent and child volunteers came to the MRI facility, we gave them consent forms to sign, and went through a thorough screening process to make sure that it was safe for each child to participate. We also gave the children and their parents detailed instructions about the purpose of the study and what the child volunteer would be required to do. We then brought them back to the main room where the MRI machine was housed, and placed them into the MRI machine. Once in the MRI, the child listened to a series of vocalized words, and viewed images of pictures as well as written words. Since none of the children volunteers were deaf, we did not show any signed videos of words to them. Unfortunately, two of the children were nervous to participate in the study, so we were only able to get data on two of the children. We were also unable to get the data analyzed in time, as no one from the MRI facility was available to help us in time.

In the future, I would strive even harder to get the word out about this project, and would attempt to recruit more deaf individuals. If time had permitted, I would have received help earlier on analyzing the data, so that we could track and see what the cognitive processes in the brain were for these children when shown the stimuli. Overall, though, this was an incredible experience that allowed me to gain new skills and knowledge, and helped to deepen my understanding of research and all that it includes.