Introduction: Poor cognitive function and auditory reaction ability can cause difficulties in daily life and mobility for individuals with visual impairments. Research has suggested that participation in exercise can help improve physical and mental well-being; however, there is a limited amount of literature exploring the impact of exercise participation on cognitive function and auditory reaction in this population.
Purpose: To investigate the impact of exercise participation on executive function and auditory reaction ability in individuals with visual impairment.
Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 59 participants divided into four groups: beep baseball players (n = 14), visually impaired runners (n = 15), visually impaired non-athletes (n = 15), and sighted non-athletes (n = 15). All participants underwent executive function tests (2-back task, task-switching test) and auditory reaction tests. Accuracy and reaction time were assessed to compare performance across groups.
Results: The visually impaired non-athletes demonstrated the lowest accuracy scores of the 2-back task compared to the other three groups. No significant differences in accuracy were found among the three groups. The visually impaired non-athletes also showed the lowest scores in the task-switching test; however, these differences were not statistically significant. For the auditory reaction tests, beep baseball players demonstrated significantly higher accuracy and faster reaction time compared to both visually impaired runners and non-athletes. Additionally, the sighted non-athletes outperformed the visually impaired non-athletes in accuracy. Further analysis revealed that both the beep baseball and sighted groups performed significantly better than the visually impaired non-athletes in accuracy to rear auditory stimuli (back-left and back-right).
Conclusions: Exercise participation was associated with better working memory performance in individuals with visual impairment. Additionally, sensory-oriented exercises, such as beep baseball, appear to enhance auditory reaction abilities and may serve as effective interventions for improving spatial auditory processing and functional independence in this population.