[nfb-talk] British using sound to assist the blind

[seville allen]

Tapping a cane is quite acceptable; the tip provides echolocation.  

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Steve Jacobson
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 9:38 AM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] British using sound to assist the blind

Sherri,

I think many of us used these techniques when we were kids and were
discouraged from using it because it was seen as socially unacceptable.  As
adults, we find 
other, less apparent ways to do the same thing as you indicated with the
snapping of your fingers.  I frankly agree that if I were to click with my
tongue as I did when 
I was a kid that it would certainly seem strange to others, however I have
felt that there should be a way to create a very small electronic sound
source that could fill 
the bill while perhaps being even more effective and acceptable.  

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:36:24 -0500, Sherri wrote:

>Does anyone use a similar technique for echolocation as mentioned in the
below article? I sometimes will quietly snap my fingers if I am trying to
locate where an 
object is and that helps. To me, it's interesting that as blind people, we
have developed techniques that are now being taught by people who think
they've 
discovered some great idea that has never been tried before.
> 
>Sherri
> 
> 
>  From The Sunday Times
> 
>February 10, 2008
> 
>Blind taught to see like a bat
> 
>Mark Macaskill
> 
>BLIND British children are to be taught a pioneering bat-style echolocation
technique to visualise their surroundings.
> 
>The children are learning how to build up detailed images of the world
around them by clicking their tongue and interpreting the sound as it echoes
back.
> 
>The technique is used by animals such as bats, dolphins and whales to
navigate and hunt in the dark.
> 
>Bats are able to manoeuvre around caves and catch tiny insects on the wing
by emitting short bursts of high-pitched noise and reading the sound waves
as
>they bounce back to their highly evolved ears.
> 
>There is emerging evidence that blind people can harness their sense of
hearing  which is often more acute  to interpret reflected sound and
create detailed
>mental images of their surroundings, including the distance, size and
density of objects.
> 
>The technique is being piloted in Glasgow, where 10 children aged five to
17 are being taught by staff from Visibility, one of the citys oldest
charities
>for the blind. The children are learning how to make the clicking sound and
how to use the technique even in noisy urban areas, including the
underground
>system.
> 
>Blind people in America, where human echolocation was pioneered, have
learnt to differentiate between people, trees, buildings and parked cars by
interpreting
>the pitch and timbre of the echo they produce. Practitioners say they can
determine the height, density and shape of objects up to 100ft away.
> 
>People using echolocation can determine the distance they are from an
object by the length of time it takes for the sound to travel back. Its
position can
>be established by whether the echo hits the left or right ear first. The
size of an object can be determined by the intensity of the echo. A smaller
object
>reflects less of the sound wave. The objects direction of movement can be
established by the pitch of the echo, which is lower if it is moving away
from
>the source.
> 
>Echolocation has been endorsed by Professor Gordon Dutton, one of Britains
leading paediatric ophthalmologists, who wants the technique to be taught to
>blind and visually impaired people across the country. There are about
385,000 registered blind and partially sighted people in Britain.
> 
>Its very exciting, said Dutton, of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children
in Glasgow. I have seen echolocation being used  its quite stunning. It
has
>been demonstrated to me that it absolutely works.
> 
>Of course there will be scepticism and doubt but the benefits are without
question. It will make a massive difference to the lives of blind and
visually
>impaired people.
> 
>The project in Glasgow follows a visit last year by Dan Kish, a 41-year-old
blind man from California, who pioneered the technique. Kish, who runs the
not-for-profit
>organisation World Access for the Blind, has also been commissioned by the
charity Common Sense to present his method to the families of blind people
in
>Poole, Dorset.
> 
>His command of the technique is such that he can ride a bicycle on public
roads and distinguish between different types of fruit on trees merely by
clicking
>his tongue. A video on the website YouTube shows Kish and a number of his
friends demonstrating their skills.
> 
>Ben Underwood, a teenager who lost his sight when he was three, has also
become a celebrity in America because of his ability to use echolocation to
ride
>a bike and to go skateboarding.
> 
>Although there have been no scientific studies of echolocation, supporters
say it can hugely improve the lives of blind and partially sighted children.
> 
>While using a cane allows blind people to identify obstacles in their path,
echolocation is said to provide 360-degree vision and can give them far
greater
>freedom.
> 
>Its a type of seeing in its own right, which probably uses similar brain
imaging mechanisms to eyesight, Kish said.
> 
>Students almost invariably become more confident, move faster and
participate in more activities, he continued. They show improved posture
and regard
>themselves as more able to direct themselves through their environment with
less need for others.
> 
>They are freer, and better able to choose the quality of life they wish to
achieve, rather than have this chosen for them.
> 
>Fiona Sandford, chief executive of Visibility, added: This is a pioneering
technique that will transform the lives of young blind children.
> 
>We have trained four visually impaired adults and they are now using their
skills to train children. We hope to roll this out to adults. I have seen it
>being used and it works.
> 
>Belgiums federal police use a unit of blind officers specifically for
their acute sense of hearing, in analysing phone taps and bugged
conversations in
>investigations of terrorism, drug trafficking and organised crime.
> 
>The detectives can separate the voices of different speakers and pick up
sonic clues such as whether a suspect is in a railway station or a
restaurant or
>whether the caller is using a land-line or mobile phone. Some officers have
even identified the make of car suspects are using.
> 
>A detective in Antwerp, Sacha van Loo, 36, who is trained in echolocation,
correctly identified a drug smuggler as Albanian from his accent when
sighted
>colleagues thought the man was Moroccan.
> 
>Hollywood has also depicted the heightened senses of the blind. In the 2003
film Dare-devil, Ben Affleck plays a New York lawyer, blinded in childhood,
>who transforms himself into a masked crime-busting superhero by night,
using his acute hearing as a radar sense to see through the dark.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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