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Blind human echolocation, does it really exist?

Beckett

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Joined
Sep 28, 2003
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63
Some time back I taped an episode of the new "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!" (hosted by Dean Cain) with a segment on Daniel Kish (apparently completely blind), executive director of World Access for the Blind. It was claimed that echolocation could be employed by blind people to do things like make out shapes in one's surroundings and go bicycle riding. The noise used in the process is simply a tsk type sound. Unfortunately, after a long search today, I was unable to locate this tape. Has anyone else seen this episode?

I'm curious to know, has any scientific testing been done on human echolocation? The tasks mentioned above were performed on the show, but, if I remember correctly, the subjects' eyes were left uncovered. I realize there are different types of blindness so, dare I say, I have wondered how straightforward the subjects and their presentation were in the Ripley's segment.
 
I have no idea if it's supported, but I've been able to do it. It's pretty coarse, but it works for large objects.
 

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