Latency of head movements of normal hearing and auditorially handicapped children.

19 auditory handicapped and 19 hearing children (4- to 12-yr.-old) were compared for performance on a visual localization task during which visual stimuli were presented both within and beyond the initial field of view. In the latter situations the localization response depends, initially on a cognitive map of the surrounding environment. The youngest group (4- and 5-yr.-old) of auditorially handicapped children showed, relative to their nondeaf peers, slower latencies of head movements to stimuli beyond their initial field of view. This finding is interpreted as these subjects having at their disposal a less precise, less adequate, cognitive map of the environment, possibly arising from a disturbed crossmodal integration as a consequence of the absence of auditory input.