Reading ability in both deaf and hearing adults is linked to neural representations of abstract phonology derived from visual speech.

Overview

1. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AZ, United Kingdom
2. Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0PD, United Kingdom
3. Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
4. Western Institute for Neuroscience, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada
5. Department of Computer Science, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
6. Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences, Western University, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada

Abstract

Reading is central to academic and vocational success. Some deaf children face reading challenges due to limited access to spoken or signed language. Robust phonological representations are key to reading development in hearing children. Spoken language phonology may be one of many contributors to reading development in deaf children. Indeed, speechreading ability correlates with reading skill in both deaf and hearing individuals, suggesting it is linked to reading development regardless of hearing status. Further support for this hypothesis would be provided by evidence that similar neural representations of speech phonology are evoked by visual speech and other language forms (auditory speech and text) and that these neural representations are related to reading proficiency. We used fMRI and representational similarity analysis (RSA) to identify shared neural representations of spoken language phonological structure. A group of deaf adult participants (N = 22), with a mixture of sign language and spoken language backgrounds and reading abilities, were presented with single lexical items as visual speech and dynamic text (cursive text, revealed letter-by-letter to promote a phonological reading strategy). Adult hearing participants (N = 25) were presented with the same words, but as visual speech and auditory speech. Shared neural representations of phonological structure of English words were found in each group in the superior and middle temporal cortex (STC/MTC) and these abstract representations were more similar across different language forms in better readers. Our data provide neurobiological evidence of the contribution of visual speech to abstract phonological representations of spoken language, that relate to reading proficiency, in both deaf and hearing adults.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

No file of the authors' code could be read here: it is described below, and read at its source.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

Proposed by the machine: these links were found in the paper and verified at the source, without human review. The map will receive a Zenodo DOI once one of the paper's authors has validated it with their ORCID.

What the map holds:

• 1 repository of the authors' code, each at its verified commit, with its license and how the link was found in the paper;
• 0 scripts, each with its path and the digest of its content;
• no match between paragraphs and code yet;
• neither the text of the paper nor the code itself.

Its JSON (tracing-map.json) is deposited on Zenodo with its DOI once the map is validated.

Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data, Materials, and Software Availability

Processed data and analysis scripts have been deposited in the OSF (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/CBA8Z; https://osf.io/cba8z/overview) (87). This includes fully anonymized behavioral data, second level univariate data and searchlight maps that form the basis of the RSA analysis. These materials allow reproduction of the main findings including the supplementary results. Unfortunately, raw MRI data is not openly available due to the risk of participant re-identification. However, this data is available on reasonable request, subject to institutional governance procedures. The visual speech stimuli, which are personally identifiable, are also available via request, subject to an agreement about how they will be used and shared in the future. Please contact the corresponding author or senior author for access to these materials.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 7 authors, 5 keywords, 13 MeSH terms, 1 funder, 77 references.

Cite

This paper

Evans, S., Price, C. J., Diedrichsen, J., Twomey, T., Beedie, I., Fraser, M., & MacSweeney, M. (2026). Reading ability in both deaf and hearing adults is linked to neural representations of abstract phonology derived from visual speech. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123(22), e2535704123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2535704123

The tracing map gets a citation of its own once an author has validated it and it has a DOI.

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1162/nol.a.13 [code]

Bilateral Word Selectivity Gradients in the Visual Word Form System in Skilled Deaf Readers.

Journal: Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: cognitive, other condition, 10 references

[2] doi:10.1044/2025_jslhr-24-00872 [code]

The Role of Speech Reading During Visual Word Processing in Hearing Children: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

Journal: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR

In common: cognitive, 10 references

[3] doi:10.1162/nol_a_00104

Asymetric Event-Related Potential Priming Effects Between English Letters and American Sign Language Fingerspelling Fonts.

Journal: Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: cognitive, other condition, 5 references

[4] doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcag261 [code]

Cortical speech envelope tracking reflects lesion-symptom profiles in post-stroke aphasia.

Journal: Brain communications

In common: cognitive, 2 references, author Cathy J Price

[5] doi:10.1162/nol_a_00143 [code]

Impact of ASL Exposure on Spoken Phonemic Discrimination in Adult CI Users: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study.

Journal: Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: cognitive, other condition, 5 references

[6] doi:10.1007/s10548-023-00959-8 [code]

The Development of Cortical Responses to the Integration of Audiovisual Speech in Infancy.

Journal: Brain topography

In common: 1 reference, author Samuel Evans

[7] doi:10.1162/nol_a_00091 [code]

Right Posterior Temporal Cortex Supports Integration of Phonetic and Talker Information.

Journal: Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: cognitive, 5 references

[8] doi:10.1162/nol_a_00145

Selective Neural Entrainment Reveals Hierarchical Tuning to Linguistic Regularities in Reading.

Journal: Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: cognitive, 5 references

[9] doi:10.1162/imag.a.53 [code]

Seeing speech: Neural mechanisms of cued speech perception in prelingually deaf and hearing users.

Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: cognitive, other condition, 4 references

[10] doi:10.7554/elife.82566 [code]

Statistical inference on representational geometries.

Journal: eLife

In common: 2 references, author Jörn Diedrichsen

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

<!-- oscr-badge:start -->
[![OSCR](https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2535704123.svg)](https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2535704123)
<!-- oscr-badge:end -->

.. oscr-badge:start

.. image:: https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2535704123.svg
   :target: https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2535704123
   :alt: OSCR

.. oscr-badge:end

<!-- oscr-badge:start -->
<a href="https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2535704123"><img src="https://openscicode.org/badge/doi/10.1073/pnas.2535704123.svg" alt="OSCR"></a>
<!-- oscr-badge:end -->

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion: code errors and mismatches between the code and the paper about this paper and its code, from readers and its authors, beside the paper and its tracing map.

Report a mismatch between the code and the paper · Report a code error (signed in)

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code and did not get the paper's result, what they ran, with which environment, commit and data.

Report a reproduction failure (signed in)

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.