Posted on 09/16/2003 7:31:03 AM PDT by bedolido
A bat echolocation system, adapted for human ears, has been used allow people to locate objects in a virtual reality environment. The researchers behind the project hope that a similar system in the cockpit of fighter planes could allow pilots to track some controls using their hearing, freeing up their eyes for other tasks.
"When you drive, you can't look at the speedometer and the road at the same time, but you can listen to the radio at the same time," says Dean Waters, a bat expert at the University of Leeds, UK.
Humans cannot generate or hear the high frequency sound waves generated by bats. So Waters created a virtual system that sends out bat echolocation sounds and returns echoes that are slowed into the human range of hearing.
He put people wearing headphones into a room and asked them to hunt down a virtual insect, using only the echolocation sounds. "The trials were extraordinary," Waters told New Scientist. "It's a very intuitive process."
Broadband call
People were better at finding their target using bat sounds than they were when trying to find a source of sound such as a stereo. That is because bat calls are particularly good for making auditory maps of space.
The calls are short, so the echo comes back sharply. They also have a broadband structure - containing information in both high and low frequencies - which allows the animals to better localise sound. Finally, bats also dynamically change their calls when approaching their target, using shorter calls when they get closer to an object.
Waters only used one type of bat call in his virtual environment, but in future experiments he plans to let people adjust the calls themselves to optimise their navigation ability.
He has not managed to interest any military organisations in his system as yet, but as a true bat aficionado, he is just happy to know what it is like to be a bat. "You can see the world through bat ears," Waters says, "It's quite a trip."
The work was presented at the British Association Festival of Science in Salford, near Manchester, UK.
Emily Singer, Salford
Didn't Longstreet have
a cane that used sound echoes
to help him walking?
SYNOPSIS FIREFOX is an entertaining cold war fantasy piloted by actor-director Clint Eastwood. When the Russians develop a Mach 5 jet with thought-controlled weaponry, the free world needs someone to go and steal it from them in order to maintain the balance of power.
Not sure about the cane... they probably told him where to walk and he did it. Strange program... almost interesting. I wonder if they name the character after General James Longstreet of Gettisburg fame?
General James Longstreet disagreeing with General Lee's attack plan
"On the 3rd and final day of the battle Lee ordered, over Longstreet’s strong objections, an all-out attack against the Federal position employing for the purpose Longstreet’s Corps, including Pickett’s newly arrived division, and elements of A. P. Hill’s Corps as well. Although Longstreet remonstrated with Lee to cancel the attack, he was instructed to deliver it as ordered, and was saddened to see it end in the utter failure that he had feared that it would. This episode was to lead to a long and acrimonious debate between the admirers of Longstreet and those of R. E. Lee, which was to last long after the end of the war, concerning who was really responsible for the defeat."
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