Blindness, Low Vision, and Nonverbal Communication

Social interactions that rely on nonverbal cues can be challenging for the vision-impaired.

Reviewed by Devon Frye

Key points

• Nonverbal communication comprises bodily cues used to infer the thoughts and emotions of others.
• Visual nonverbal cues such as eye gaze are of primary importance in regulating face-to-face interactions.
• Visually impaired people cannot see most visual nonverbal cues and must rely primarily on auditory cues.
• Family members of visually impaired people should use more nonverbal auditory cues in their interactions.

Recently, I attended a dinner where I was the only blind person. I decided to walk towards some voices and introduce myself. I greeted the group with a comment intended to be amusing. My comment was followed by… silence.

I could not see their facial expressions, so I did not know if they were amused, dismayed, bored, shocked, angry, or something else. I waited a few seconds and then said, “I don’t know what you’re thinking unless you make some noise.”

Since losing my sight, I have struggled with nonverbal communication. The term “nonverbal communication” refers to information transmitted by behavioral cues, such as facial expressions, that allow people to infer an individual’s intentions, traits, goals, motivations, emotions, attitudes, etc. (Hall et al., 2019).

Most nonverbal cues are visual, such as hand gestures or body posture (Burgoon et al., 2022). People who are blind or have low vision are unable to perceive most or all visual nonverbal cues. This inability makes it more difficult for them to interpret what others are saying or doing during social interactions (Qiu et al., 2020).

Social Interactions: The “Eyes” Have It

Effective face-to-face (F2F) conversations proceed like a dance between two experienced partners. The conversational dance consists of verbal utterances and nonverbal cues that each partner must interpret accurately.

The most important nonverbal cue is “eye gaze” (Burgoon et al., 2022; Jokinen et al., 2013). Eye contact has powerful effects on humans. For example, oxytocin, which is associated with bonding, is released when two individuals gaze into each other's eyes, even when the two individuals are a human and a dog (Herbeck et al., 2022).

But people who are blind usually are unable to make eye contact or see where others are looking. This inability can lead to responses that disrupt the flow of F2F conversations. For example:

• They may not know if a question or comment was directed at them (Qiu et al., 2020)
• They may struggle with turn-taking in conversations with sighted people (Bergoon et al., 2022; Hall et al., 2019)

The first problem, not knowing when someone is talking to them, often results in embarrassing or awkward situations. The second problem, not knowing when they can talk, may have more serious consequences because of social rules regulating who speaks and who listens in conversations.

The participants in F2F conversations are expected to follow two general rules: 1) do not interrupt speakers and 2) do not monopolize conversations (Bergoon et al., 2022; Wiemann & Knapp, 2017). Beginning in early childhood, family members model proper conversational behaviors and react negatively when children break the rules (Casillas, 2014). These reactions teach children to attend to the nonverbal cues that govern turn-taking.

Several visual nonverbal cues are important for turn-taking: changes in eye gaze, head movements, hand gestures, and body postures (Burgoon et al., 2022; Jokinen et al., 2013).

In two-way interactions, speakers indicate that they are about to stop speaking by increasing the amount of time they spend looking at the listener (Wiemann & Knapp, 2017). Listeners use visual cues, such as head nodding, to indicate that they want to speak. People who are blind usually cannot perceive these visual cues.

But auditory verbal and nonverbal cues also provide information about turn-taking in two-way interactions. The most important auditory nonverbal cues for turn-taking are changes in pitch, pauses, rhythm, and tempo of speech (Jokinen et al., 2013). For example, speakers will let the pitch fall in the final sentence when they are about to yield the speaking role. Auditory cues such as this one should be sufficient to ensure smooth turn-taking in two-way interactions.

However, in three-way interactions with one blind and one sighted listener, auditory nonverbal cues from a sighted speaker may not be sufficient to indicate which of the two listeners should begin speaking. The speaker uses mostly visual cues, such as eye gaze and head turns, to indicate which of the two listeners they have chosen to take over the speaking role (Jokinen et al., 2013). Auditory cues alone cannot indicate which of the two listeners the speaker has chosen. Thus, visually impaired people may interrupt when others start their turns or remain quiet when they would like to talk.

Visual Nonverbal Cues and Low Vision

People with low vision often perceive the form of larger objects but not their details (Qiu et al., 2020). For example, they may see the fuzzy outline of a face across the room but none of its identifying features. People with low vision, therefore, have some of the same difficulties in F2F interactions as people who are blind.

Laura Brieschke, a 51-year-old Certified Visual Rehabilitation Therapist, has had low vision since birth. She cannot see facial expressions unless she stands very close to people. For example, she stated, “People sometimes smile at me and I don’t smile back because I didn’t see it.” When this occurs, people sometimes think incorrectly that she is unfriendly.

But like many people with low vision (Qiu et al., 2020), Laura still relies on sight when she can. In F2F conversations, Laura can see head, arm, and hand movements, which help her with turn-taking and inferring emotional states. But having some vision has a downside: people tend to think that she has more vision than she actually does, which sometimes causes misunderstandings.

Research on nonverbal communication spans many disciplines and the findings are complex. I have simplified the research results by leaving out much of the nuance.

But what I have covered allows me to make an important recommendation: The family members and friends of visually impaired people can help reduce ambiguity in F2F conversations by using more verbal and auditory nonverbal cues. For instance, when we ask someone a question, we should start by stating their name. And if an older blind man walks up to you and says something silly, make some noises that will let him know what you are thinking.

Acknowledgments: I want to thank Kiera Feng for her editorial assistance and Laura Brieschke, M.S., for her insights on low vision.