<p>A quick Google search reveals some answers such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2632268" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Atkinson, J. R. (2006)</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Around half of all deaf people diagnosed with schizophrenia report experiencing “voices,” during which they sense someone communicating with them in the absence of any external stimulus. This closely parallels prevalence rates of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in hearing people with schizophrenia (50–70%). There is no evidence reported for increased frequency of psychotic hallucinations in congenitally deaf people. However, greater proportions of visual and tactile/somatic hallucinations have been noted. Around 50% of deaf people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia report visual hallucinations, and a similar proportion describe tactile/somatic hallucinations, despite the low occurrence of these phenomena in schizophrenia generally (15% and 5%, respectively).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The abstract points out that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The study of voice-hallucinations in deaf individuals, who exploit the visuomotor rather than auditory modality for communication, provides rare insight into the relationship between sensory experience and how “voices” are perceived. Relatively little is known about the perceptual characteristics of voice-hallucinations in congenitally deaf people who use lip-reading or sign language as their preferred means of communication. The existing literature on hallucinations in deaf people is reviewed, alongside consideration of how such phenomena may fit into explanatory subvocal articulation hypotheses proposed for auditory verbal hallucinations in hearing people.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>References</h2>
<p>Atkinson, J. R. (2006). The perceptual characteristics of voice-hallucinations in deaf people: insights into the nature of subvocal thought and sensory feedback loops. <em>Schizophrenia bulletin, 32</em>(4), 701-708. doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbj063" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10.1093/schbul/sbj063</a> pubmed: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2632268" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PMC2632268</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-01T11:02:44.483Z
2019-09-01T11:02:44.483Z
2020-06-17T09:55:31.633Z
Chris Rogers
<p>I am interested in how schizophrenia can be expressed in them, and whether it depends on the perception of the world.  Maybe they see text pop-up in the air, or something like that?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-09-01T10:53:27.373Z
Welcome to Psychology.SE. We work differently to most SE sites, where we have a strict policy that all questions should [show evidence of prior research](https://psychology.meta.stackexchange.com/q/993). Please help us to help you and [edit] your question to provide more information on what you have read on this subject, and any problems you are having understanding your research. If you found nothing, what did you Google? This helps to provide an answer which will be more helpful.
Chris Rogers
<abnormal-psychology><schizophrenia><hallucinations>
Can schizophrenics who are deaf since birth hear voices?
Mouvre
# Can schizophrenics who are deaf since birth hear voices?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-09-01)

I am interested in how schizophrenia can be expressed in them, and whether it depends on the perception of the world. Maybe they see text pop-up in the air, or something like that?

**Tags:** abnormal-psychology, schizophrenia, hallucinations

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to Psychology.SE. We work differently to most SE sites, where we have a strict policy that all questions should [show evidence of prior research](https://psychology.meta.stackexchange.com/q/993). Please help us to help you and [edit] your question to provide more information on what you have read on this subject, and any problems you are having understanding your research. If you found nothing, what did you Google? This helps to provide an answer which will be more helpful.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-09-01. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

A quick Google search reveals some answers such as [Atkinson, J. R. (2006)](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2632268).

> Around half of all deaf people diagnosed with schizophrenia report experiencing “voices,” during which they sense someone communicating with them in the absence of any external stimulus. This closely parallels prevalence rates of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in hearing people with schizophrenia (50–70%). There is no evidence reported for increased frequency of psychotic hallucinations in congenitally deaf people. However, greater proportions of visual and tactile/somatic hallucinations have been noted. Around 50% of deaf people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia report visual hallucinations, and a similar proportion describe tactile/somatic hallucinations, despite the low occurrence of these phenomena in schizophrenia generally (15% and 5%, respectively).

The abstract points out that:

> The study of voice-hallucinations in deaf individuals, who exploit the visuomotor rather than auditory modality for communication, provides rare insight into the relationship between sensory experience and how “voices” are perceived. Relatively little is known about the perceptual characteristics of voice-hallucinations in congenitally deaf people who use lip-reading or sign language as their preferred means of communication. The existing literature on hallucinations in deaf people is reviewed, alongside consideration of how such phenomena may fit into explanatory subvocal articulation hypotheses proposed for auditory verbal hallucinations in hearing people.

## References

Atkinson, J. R. (2006). The perceptual characteristics of voice-hallucinations in deaf people: insights into the nature of subvocal thought and sensory feedback loops. *Schizophrenia bulletin, 32*(4), 701-708. doi: [10.1093/schbul/sbj063](https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbj063) pubmed: [PMC2632268](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2632268)


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