"Intuition is a function by which humans see around corners." - Erasmus
Posted on 12/05/2006 1:42:24 PM PST by FLOutdoorsman
In early September, a 14-year-old kid with empty eye sockets strode on stage for a taping of the talk show Ellen. "I'm not blind," he told the host to wild applause, "I just can't see." The story seemed lifted from the pages of a comic book: At the age of 3, Ben Underwood lost his eyes to retinal cancer. Three years later, he discovered that he could sense objects around him by making little clicking noises with his tongue and then listening for the echoes. Now, he uses these clicks to find doorways and locate cars on the street. That's right—he navigates with sonar.
The Sonar Boy had been on the CBS Evening News a few days earlier, Rollerblading, playing Foosball, and throwing pillows at his sisters. But his big break came back in July, when People magazine ran a five-page profile that dubbed him "The Boy Who Sees With Sound." "Ben pushes the limits of human perception," one expert told People. Watch the clips of him on YouTube and it's hard to disagree—if this kid's not a prodigy, he's a brilliant fraud.
Ben Underwood's echolocation isn't a hoax, but it's not an unexplained mystery, either. Ben really can sense nearby objects with reflected sound waves. But so can you. If Sonar Boy is some kind of superhero, then we're a nation of Daredevils.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
The child seems to have a strong sense of hearing.
But this is done by most people in the dark at night. You can "hear" the sound of the wall simply by the change in pitch of the ambient noise you create.
Of course, I don't know of anyone who adds click sounds to it all, though.
Do not ask me why - I don't know - but this song entered my head as I read this...
I hope the evil military-industrial complex doesn't kidnap him and turn him into a weapon against our "enemies." /sarc OTOH, I'm sure a movie is just around the corner where this very thing happens.
Probably because I believe this is the same blind kid who plays certain videogames --- and wins --- based on the sounds.
"Intuition is a function by which humans see around corners." - Erasmus
I have an adult blind friend.
He uses sonar to navigate when he is not using his seeing-eye dog. That is one-half the purpose of the long white "cane" that many blind people use. Besides the cane directly touching an obstruction in their route, the ear hears the sound of the cane tapping along the path, and by experience the blind person learns to interpret the differences in the echo of the sound of the tapping, as it strikes the surfaces of whatever is near, as well as the lessening or absence of any echo when little or nothing is near, and all the shades of sound in between.
Once, on a street in New York City, my friend demonstrated the technique. While walking along the sidewalk, in the position closest to the curb, and tapping his cane along the way, he could fairly accurately describe the vehicles parked along the curb, usually making the decision before we completely passed each one. A commercial truck is both tall and very long. A van is tall but not as tall or as long as a commercial truck, usually. A SUV is taller than a car and usually wider, but not as big as a commercial truck. A sportscar is lower than the average car. A stationwagon is no higher than an average car, but more of a box in shape. All these differences make small but different changes in the echo from the tapping of the caine. Through years of experience he became very proficient at hearing those differences and learning what they meant.
I think Sonar boy has learned quickly and at a young age.
I find your story about your friend and the story about this young man just amazing.....If we do not get in the way of ourselves our bodies can adapt to its own weakness by gaining strength in other ares......neat stuff
Sounds like a Dean Koontz book.
Rush as an audiodevice to help with his hearing and the same MIT crew that developed this device is working on an ocular implsnt. It was written up in Sciam and initial tests were promising. Indeed Steve Wonder volunteered for this device but was not selected. Since he was blind at birt he had no visual memory. An older gentleman who was married after his blindness was ecstatic to describe the black and white shadow that was his wife!!!
Isn't that what happened to BatBoy?
Yes, and I live with the regret that I stood by and did nothing!
Very interesting story about your friend being able to discern the different types of vehicles.
Those birders who "bird by ear" have a much greater appreciation for the numbers of birds around them than "sighted" persons. Bird songs can also place specific birds in your mind (even when the birds are invisible).
Helen Keller once said she would have her hearing—rather than her sight—returned.
"Helen Keller once said she would have her hearing—rather than her sight—returned."
40,000 headmen couldn't make me change my mind.
If I had to make a choice between the deaf man and the blind.
I know just where my feet should go and that's enough for me.
I turned around and knocked them down, and headed toward the sea.
KNOW what Helen' Kellers' favorite color is?????
Corduroy.
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