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Study Shows How Humans Can Echolocate

Posted by Soulskill on from the ways-in-which-humans-are-like-bats dept.

sciencehabit writes: Blind from infancy, Daniel Kish learned as a young boy to judge his height while climbing trees by making rapid clicking noises and listening for their echoes off the ground. No one taught him the technique, which is now recognized as a human form of echolocation. Like Kish, a handful of blind echolocators worldwide have taught themselves to use clicks and echoes to navigate their surroundings with impressive ease — Kish can even ride his bike down the street. A study of sighted people newly trained to echolocate now suggests that the secret to Kish's skill isn't just supersensitive ears. Instead, the entire body, neck, and head are key to 'seeing' with sound — an insight that could assist blind people learning the skill.

15 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Give me a ping... by TWX · · Score: 2

    ...one ping only...

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    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Give me a ping... by Dins · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Anybody else read the headline as "Study Shows How Humans Can Echocolate"?

    2. Re:Give me a ping... by marcello_dl · · Score: 3, Funny


      $ echo locate
      locate
      $

      IT WORKS

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      ---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
  2. Chocolate by Dimwit · · Score: 3, Funny

    I read that as "eat chocolate" even after readreading it twice. I still would've been interested, though, since it's toxic to some mammals.

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    ...but it's being eaten...by some...Linux or something...
    1. Re:Chocolate by DahGhostfacedFiddlah · · Score: 2

      I came close - I kept thinking "But eChocolate is a noun, not a verb!"

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      Last post!
    2. Re:Chocolate by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      Actually it's toxic to us as well, just a bit less so. If you eat a lot of raw, unprocessed chocolate (which has a higher concentration of toxic theobromine than most processed forms), you're likely to have some problems yourself.

      Well, we have two things going for us.

      First, we can tolerate a lot more theobromine. Second, we're heavier and thus we can take in a lot more theobromine on an absolute basis.

      Third, our livers process theobromine a lot faster - a dog or cat's problem with chocolate is that they can't tolerate a lot of it, they don't have a lot of mass, and they can't process it fast enough for the amount they nibble on.

      Still, it's funny how the difference between "echocolate" and "echolocate" is swapping two letters. Though I don't want to experience fake eChocolates, I'd prefer the real stuff myself.

  3. Haha, very funny... by Savage-Rabbit · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You guys can cack as many jokes as you want but being able to navigate in pitch darkness using echolocation is a pretty awesome skill to have.

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    Only to idiots, are orders laws.
    -- Henning von Tresckow
    1. Re:Haha, very funny... by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 4, Funny

      You guys can cack as many jokes as you want but being able to navigate in pitch darkness using echolocation is a pretty awesome skill to have.

      Especially when there is a blackout and you are looking for your chocolate.

    2. Re:Haha, very funny... by Kjella · · Score: 2

      My only reaction to this article is "Duh". We use echolocation every single day, most people are too 'blind' to actually consciously process it.

      No. To use echolocation would imply that you're making the sound yourself trying to find where it reflects back to you and people generally don't do that. Even in pitch dark most will try using their night vision or feel their way around rather than making noises to nobody in particular. Picking out the direction a sound is coming from or noticing obstacles altering the sound is not the same.

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      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    3. Re:Haha, very funny... by ccanucs · · Score: 2

      It's one of the potential reasons that people who stand in an anechoic chamber (I had the opportunity to many years ago now and it was an eerie sensation) can feel very unsteady on their feet.

  4. over 40 comments so far and no one by tekrat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    and no one has mentioned Daredevil?
    Either turn in your geek cred cards, or admit that the Ben Affleck movie was so terrible that you've erased any mention of Daredevil from your minds....

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    If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
  5. Nothing new by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Anyone can do this. You're probably even aware of it if you're married.

    You arrive home after work, walk in through the garage and immediately know somethings different but you don't know what it is. You round the corner and your wife has bought a new rug... or cabinet... or something. Do you have ESP? No... the room "sounds" different. How do you know when someones creeping up behind you? Same thing...

    I used to deer hunt with my father, and his tree stand was insanely high at over 70ft (he liked to think of himself as a sniper) and you could definitely hear the difference when you were the high in the trees than if you were in my stand which was at a much less terrifying 20ft off the ground.

  6. The bike riding is less than impressive.. by Midnight_Falcon · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you'e seen videos of him doing the supposed "riding bike down the street," he only gets a handful of meters, slowly, and it is a very painstaking bike ride. They even edit his video to show the more successful parts. I looked into this after seeing his TED talk -- while echolocation seemed pretty neat, it definitely seems like his foundation is exaggerating its efficacy. It definitely does something, his bike riding is awkward at best but I think it's talked up in an effort to encourage others to learn it as well.

  7. Artificial Clicker/ by godel_56 · · Score: 2

    I wonder if some sort of artificial pulse generator would be an improvement, rather than producing the clicks yourself.

    You'd be guaranteed repeatability and might be able to shape the pulses in order to get a better result. Would differently formed clicks work better at different ranges or with different surfaces?

  8. Re:This is just now being covered? by cyberchondriac · · Score: 2

    I'd like to live in your universe.

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    Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.