Are deaf students visual learners?

• Visual–spatial abilities predicted mathematics problem-solving by deaf and hearing students.
• Hearing students outperformed deaf students on visual–spatial tasks.
• Deaf students' visual–spatial abilities were related to hearing thresholds but not sign language.
• There was no indication that deaf students, in general, are visual learners.

It is frequently assumed that by virtue of their hearing losses, deaf students are visual learners. Deaf individuals have some visual–spatial advantages relative to hearing individuals, but most have been linked to use of sign language rather than auditory deprivation. How such cognitive differences might affect academic performance has been investigated only rarely. This study examined relations among deaf college students' language and visual–spatial abilities, mathematics problem solving, and hearing thresholds. Results extended some previous findings and clarified others. Contrary to what might be expected, hearing students exhibited visual–spatial skills equal to or better than deaf students. Scores on a Spatial Relations task were associated with better mathematics problem solving. Relations among the several variables, however, suggested that deaf students are no more likely to be visual learners than hearing students and that their visual–spatial skill may be related more to their hearing losses than to their sign language skills.