Cognitive intervention through virtual environments among deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

The lack of the auditory sense in the hearing-impaired raises the question as to the
extent to which this deficiency affects their cognitive and intellectual skills. Studies
have pointed out, that with regard to reasoning, particularly when the process of
induction is required, hearing-impaired children usually have difficulties. They
experience similar difficulties with their ability to think in a flexible way. Generally,
a large body of literature suggests that hearing-impaired children tend to be more
concrete and rigid in their thought processes. This study aimed at using Virtual
Reality as a tool for improving structural inductive processes and the flexible
thinking with hearing-impaired children. Three groups were involved in this study:
an experimental group, which included 21 deaf and hard-of-hearing children, who
played a VR 3D game; a control group, which included 23 deaf and hard-of-hearing
children, who played a similar 2D (not VR game); and a second control group of 16
hearing children for whom no intervention was introduced. The results clearly
indicate that practising with VR 3D spatial rotations significantly improved
inductive thinking and flexible thinking of the hearing-impaired.