[nfb-talk] sonar for blind

[T. Joseph Carter]

Yes, I use sound echoes as well.  And when I need one and haven’t got 
it, I make my own sounds.  Most blind people do.  Where I get to 
disparaging is when it starts to become an alternative to other 
skills.

I’m VERY GOOD at the echolocation thing—good enough that at the 
Colorado Center I got my sleepshade checked more than once because of 
what I heard that my instructors didn’t.  But you wouldn’t catch me 
claiming it was an alternative to using a cane because it’s not.

Sighted people love the idea of echolocation because it gets rid of 
the cane, the thing that makes you "look" blind.  Better I think to 
look blind than to look stupid.

Joseph


On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 01:12:28PM -0400, Michael Bullis wrote:
>As I have indicated in other articles, I think we disparage this kind of
>thing far too quickly.  It works very well for detecting objects at quite a
>distance.  No, I don't want to click my way into a job interview, but, at
>the same time, the skill is useful in its propper place.
>Mike Bullis
>Baltimore MD
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of T. Joseph Carter
>Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 12:49 PM
>To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] sonar for blind
>
>Why do parents encourage this kind of thing, really?  *sigh*
>
>Joseph
>
>On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 11:33:46AM -0400, Ed Meskys wrote:
>>The Growing Success of Seeing With Sound
>>from Spiegel
>>
>>Two-and-a-half-year-old Juli merrily twirls around, holding a small white
>cane in her outstretched arm. Every so often, she makes a discreet clicking
>sound with her tongue. Doing so allows her to see with her ears, her parents
>say. She just needs more practice.
>>
>>Four-and-a-half-year-old Frida already knows how it works. If someone holds
>out a pot lid at arm's length, she can locate it with a fair degree of
>precision. Using subtle tongue clicks, she scans the space in front of her
>face. "There it is!" she says. With a few more clicks, she can even
>determine the contours of the lid. The edge lies where the echo cuts off and
>she no longer hears a response.
>>
>>The two girls are learning a method of echolocation known as "flash sonar,"
>which resembles the type of active sonar used by bats. Both were born blind
>in Berlin, and both have parents who want to spare them from the typical
>life of a blind person.
>>
>>http://ow.ly/5rV9d
>>
>>
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