SIGN LANGUAGE PROCESSING AND THE EFFECTS OF AGE OF ACQUISITION

Abstract

Language is how we connect with others and the world around and us and is vital for human development. In d/Deaf individuals, access to primary language is often delayed or diminished due to a lack of learning signed language. Sign Language processing follows a similar pathway to spoken language processing, in that the anterior portion of the brain performs syntactic processing and the posterior part of the brain performs phonemic processing. There is additional activation in the right hemisphere of hearing individuals due to the visual nature of the language. A late age of acquisition is nondetrimental in hearing individuals but presents as a lack of primary language in deaf individuals. This highlights the importance of early identification of hearing loss and intervention in making sign language services available to ensure that deaf children can have the most complete access to language. There are gaps in the research especially in population comparisons between hearing, deaf, and those who use hearing assistive technologies, general language processing in deaf individuals, and the effects of hearing assistive technologies on the language processing mechanism.