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Investigators are drawn to the psychological study of deafness for a variety of reasons. Researchers in this area come from such diverse backgrounds as linguistics and psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology, perception, speech and hearing, education, and developmental psychology. Within developmental psychology, the area draws from those interested in language acquisition, social development, cognitive development, and developmental disabilities. Yet others come to study deafness with more specific interests: in neurophysiology, in intelligence, in reading, in creativity. Finally, of course, there are those investigators whose backgrounds are originally and entirely within the field of deafness by virtue of their clinical, experimental, or personal interests.

To some observers, both within the area and without, the "field" of deafness research seems remarkably loose and eclectic, if not fractious and fragmented. Although some investigators might argue that such perceptions are more apparent than real, there certainly are enough theoretical controversies and empirical contradictions to warrant a closer look at the origins of such impressions.

In part, this diversity derives from the varied histories of the investigators who contribute to the field. Our terminologies, questions, methods, and goals are different; it should not be surprising that we sometimes disagree in our conclusions. At the same time, however, we must remember that the scientific, psychological study of deafness is a relatively young field. As an adolescent drawing on the wisdom of its elder, better established sister disciplines, perhaps it deserves some leeway.

It is true that investigations involving deaf individuals have been around for more than 100 years: The American Annals of the Deaf has been published since 1886 -- and as early as 1847 as the American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb -- and The Volta Review has been published since 1899. Most of the earliest work, however, concerned issues of rehabilitation and education. The 20th century brought with it more of an empirical approach to deafness, from Pintner's studies of intelligence and short-term memory in the 1920s to Templin's and Oléron's studies of memory and cognition in the 1950s and Furth's and Myklebust's studies of cognitive development in the 1960s. More recently, systematic explorations of sign language have been initiated by investigators like Stokoe, , Bellugi, and Klima; rigorous investigations of deaf children's language development and academic achievement were begun by Conrad, Quigley, Vernon, and others; and deaf individuals themselves have taken up the mantle of investigating the social, linguistic, and cognitive concomitants of deafness.

Some researchers, like those already mentioned, have approached the study of deafness with a scientific attitude, and have brought the scientific method to bear on their subject matter. These investigations have both complemented the continuing focus of other work on rehabilitation, remediation, and deaf education, and contributed to its development. It is only in the last 10 to 20 years, however, that the study of deafness has taken on the status of a discipline, quite distinct from the melange of its contributing disciplines. It is in this new climate that Sign Language Studies was founded in 1972, and that books of this sort -focusing largely on scientific rather than applied issues -- have emerged. . .

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