Lost in a book? How reading and doing crosswords can block your ability to hear

By Daily Mail Reporter -  27th May 2011

Becoming engrossed in a good book or a crossword really can block the ability to hear, a study has found.
Scientists demonstrated that when someone focuses their full attention on something, they can become deaf to normally audible sounds.
It happens because visual and hearing senses are trying to share limited brain capacity, they said.

Becoming engrossed in a good book or a crossword really can block the ability to hear, a study has found. It happens because visual and hearing senses are trying to share limited brain capacity, scientists said

But it can have serious consequences, and could be the cause of some road accidents.
The phenomenon is known as ‘inattentional deafness’.

Study leader Professor Nilli Lavie, from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, said: ‘Inattentional deafness is a common everyday experience.

 

For example, when engrossed in a good book or even a captivating newspaper article, we may fail to hear the train driver’s announcement and miss our stop.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1391373/How-reading-doing-crosswords-block-ability-hear.html#ixzz1NaX1XK4f