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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008) | Human echolocation is the ability of humans to sense objects in their environment by hearing echoes from those objects. This ability is used by some blind people to navigate within their environment. They actively create sounds, such as by tapping their canes or by making clicking noises with their mouths. Human echolocation is similar in principle to active sonar and to the animal echolocation employed by some animals, including bats and dolphins. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ...
This article is about the visual condition. ...
A long cane, the primary mobility tool for the visually impaired. ...
This article is about underwater sound propagation. ...
Echolocation, also called Biosonar, is the biological sonar used by several mammals such as bats (although not all species), dolphins and whales (though not baleen whales). ...
By interpreting the sound waves reflected by nearby objects, a person trained to navigate by echolocation can identify the location and sometimes size of nearby objects, and use this information to steer around obstacles and travel from place to place. However, since humans make sounds with much lower frequencies and slower rates, human echolocation can only picture comparatively much larger objects than other echolocating animals. This article is about audible acoustic waves. ...
Background Human echolocation has been known and formally studied since at least the 1950s.[1] Before it was known to be based on localization of echos, human echolocation was sometimes described as facial vision.[2][3][4] The field of human and animal echolocation was surveyed in book form as early as 1959.[5]
Some blind people have described the phenomenon not as a learned method of navigation, but as an inherent and intuitive extra sense. For example, a blind person could walk past a line of trees and feel a "pressure" at their side as they passed each tree. The cause of this would be the echo of the sound of their footsteps, however they may not be consciously aware of this mechanism, only that the phenomenon exists and can often be relied upon to detect obstacles.
Mechanics | | This section does not cite any references or sources. (October 2007)
Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. | Vision and hearing are close cousins in that they both can process reflected waves of energy. Vision processes light waves as they travel from their source, bounce off surfaces throughout the environment and enter the eyes. Similarly, the auditory system processes sound waves as they travel from their source, bounce off surfaces and enter the ears. Both systems can extract a great deal of information about the environment by interpreting the complex patterns of reflected energy that they receive. In the case of sound, these waves of reflected energy are called "echoes." Image File history File links Question_book-3. ...
In psychology, visual perception is the ability to interpret visible light information reaching the eyes which is then made available for planning and action. ...
Hearing (or audition) is one of the traditional five senses, and refers to the ability to detect sound. ...
In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo (plural echoes) is a reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. ...
Echoes and other sounds can convey spatial information that is comparable in many respects to that conveyed by light. With echoes, a blind traveler can perceive very complex, detailed, and specific information from distances far beyond the reach of the longest cane or arm. Echoes make information available about the nature and arrangement of objects and environmental features such as overhangs, walls, doorways and recesses, poles, ascending curbs and steps, planter boxes, pedestrians, fire hydrants, parked or moving vehicles, trees and other foliage, and much more. Echoes can give detailed information about location (where objects are), dimension (how big they are and their general shape), and density (how solid it is). Location is generally broken down into distance from the observer, and direction (left/right, front/back, high/low). Dimension refers to the object's height (tall or short) and breadth (wide or narrow).
By understanding the interrelationships of these qualities, much can be perceived about the nature of an object or multiple objects. For example, an object that is tall and narrow may be recognized quickly as a pole. An object that is tall and narrow near the bottom while broad near the top would be a tree. Something that is tall and very broad registers as a wall or building. While something that is broad and tall in the middle, while being shorter at either end may be identified as a parked car. Whereas an object that is low and broad may be a planter, retaining wall, or curb. And finally, something that starts out close and very low, but recedes into the distance as it gets higher is a set of steps. Density refers to the solidity of the object (solid/sparse, hard/soft). Awareness of density adds richness and complexity to one's available information. For instance, an object that is low and solid may be recognized as a table, while something low and sparse sounds like a bush; but an object that is tall and broad, and very sparse is probably a fence.
- Echolocating Distance by Moving and Stationary Listeners, Lawrence D. Rosenblum, Michael S. Gordon and Luis Jarquin, in Ecological Psychology, 2000, Vol. 12, No. 3, Pages 181-206.
- "Evaluation of an echo-Mobility training program for Young blind people", Daniel Kish, Master Thesis. 1982, University of Southern California.
Individuals with echolocation ability Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 173 × 257 pixelsFull resolution (173 × 257 pixel, file size: 37 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) http://www. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 173 × 257 pixelsFull resolution (173 × 257 pixel, file size: 37 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) http://www. ...
James Holman One of the earliest documented cases of echolocation was "the blind traveler" James Holman (1786-1857) who used the sound of a tapping cane to become one of the 19th century's greatest world travelers.[citation needed] James Holman, in an 1830 Royal Society portrait by George Chinnery painted in Canton (modern-day Guangzhou). ...
Daniel Kish Echolocation has been further developed and popularized by Daniel Kish.[citation needed] He is completely blind and taught himself to derive information about his surroundings by clicking his tongue and listening to the echo; using this technique, he is able to ride a bike and hike in unknown wilderness.[citation needed] He has developed a click-emitting device and trains other blind people in the use of echolocation.[citation needed]
Ben Underwood Diagnosed with retinal cancer at the age of two, American Ben Underwood had his eyes removed at the age of three [6].
When Ben came round from the surgery to remove both eyes when he was child he was crying saying "I can't see you anymore mommy, I can't see you"; and his mother Aquanetta Gordon said "You can smell me, you can hear me and you have got your ears, nose and mouth."
He discovered echolocation at the age of five. He does not use a cane but is able to detect not only the position, size and frequently composition of objects near him, but sometimes their shape, by making clicking sounds with his tongue about once every half a second.this case was explained in 20/20:medical mysteries. [7] He now uses it to accomplish such feats as running, basketball, rollerblading, foosball and skateboarding.[8][9] Foosball (from the German Fußball = soccer - In German itself its called Kicker or Tischfußball) is also known as table soccer, table football, babyfoot, jitz, or gettone. ...
Human echolocation in fiction
Ray Charles In a scene in the film Ray, the blind Ray Charles character (portrayed by Jamie Foxx) describes how – by wearing hard-soled shoes – he is able to find his way around. The sound lets him know what type of surface he is walking on and when he passes by an open door. Ray is a 2004 biographical film focusing on thirty years[2]of the life of legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles. ...
For the composer and conductor of the Ray Charles Singers, see Ray Charles (composer). ...
Jamie Foxx (born December 13, 1967) is an American actor, singer, and stand-up comic. ...
Toph Bei Fong In the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender, a girl named Toph develops a supernatural analogue using the show's geokinetic ability of earthbending. She senses vibrations in the ground well enough to visualize her earthbound surroundings. Toph Bei Fong (北方 托芙) is a 12-year old fictional character in the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. ...
Comic book fiction traditionally features characters with superhuman, supernatural, or paranormal abilities, often referred to as superpowers (also spelled super-powers). ...
Earthbending is a mystical martial art featured within the fictional universe of the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. ...
Matt Murdock The Marvel Comics superhero character Daredevil is characterized to have an echolocation ability. His ability was acquired following a radioactive accident which rendered him blind. Although he is able to "see things" with sound, his "radar sense" does not completely adhere to the version mentioned here. For other uses, see Daredevil (comics). ...
References - ^ Richard L. Welsh, Bruce B. Blasch, Foundations of Orientation and Mobility, American Foundation for the Blind, 1997; which cites S. O. Myers and C. G. E. G. Jones, "Obstable experiments: second report", Teacher for the Blind 46, 47–62, 1958. online
- ^ Raymond J Corsini, The Dictionary of Psychology, Psychology Press (UK), 1999, ISBN 1-58391-028-X.
- ^ M. Supa, M. Cotzin, and K. M. Dallenbach. "Facial Vision" - The Perception of Obstacles by the Blind. The American Journal of Psychology, April 1944. [1]
- ^ Cotzin and Dallenbach. "Facial Vision": The Role of Pitch and Loudness in the Location of Obstacles by the Blind. The American Journal of Psychology, October 1950. [2]
- ^ Griffin, Donald R., Echos of Bats and Men, Anchor Press, 1959 (Science and Study Series, Seeing With Sound Waves)
- ^ Humans With Amazing Senses — ABC News
- ^ Seeing with sound - an interview with Aquanetta Gordon - Guardian Unlimited
- ^ How A Blind Teen 'Sees' With Sound — CBS News
- ^ The Boy Who Sees with Sound — People magazine
See also Echolocation, also called Biosonar, is the biological sonar used by several mammals such as bats (although not all species), dolphins and whales (though not baleen whales). ...
Acoustic location is the art and science of using sound to determine the distance and direction of something. ...
Sensory substitution is the principle to transform characteristics of one sensory modality into stimuli of another sensory modality. ...
For other uses, see Daredevil (comics). ...
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