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.

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Data

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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.

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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

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