ABSTRACT
This chapter is about perceptual compensation in the blind and deaf. Perceptual compensation draws on the development of sensory as well as cognitive compensatory abilities . To this end, the chapter consists of three conceptually distinct parts. The first deals with the sensory aspects of the input to the perceptual process. The second focuses on the perceptual processing of tasks that are ecologically meaningful to the blind and deaf. The third addresses the conceptually and cognitively driven aspects of perceptual compensation. Obviously, a sensory impairment delimits the possible input to the perceptual process. In some conditions, such perceptual processing is supported by the architecture of the cognitive system that is involved in extracting meaning from perceptually degraded and distorted Signals. The overall emphasis of the chapter is on psychological compensation, rather than technical compensation , although some attention is devoted to successful cases of technical compensation when they illustrate general perceptual or cognitive principles.
