Friday, November 18, 2011

Blind Man Uses His Ears to See

BY EMORY KIM


http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/09/tech/innovation/daniel-kish-poptech-echolocation/index.html

Human echolocation lets blind man 'see'
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/09/tech/innovation/daniel-kish-poptech-echolocation/index.html


23 comments:

Colin said...

I found this very interesting, the man is very clever to use the stick and the clicks he can make with his mouth. I was surprised when I saw him moving around the town so well.

Emory said...

I believe that this is a really cool video. When I first saw it I was amazed at how he had such delicate hearing that he could her the sound bounce off of the things around him. It was also really cool that he could make clicks that could barely be heard to loud clicks. Another things that is unbelievable is that the man started clicking at a very young age and doesn't remember learning how to click. This proves that human brains can develop things without you really being aware.

Emma said...

I thought that it is very interesting that he can go about life normally and know where things are simply by clicking. I don't remember what year it was, but I think that one year we tried doing this in science class, but with clapping. It was when we were learning about bats. I also thought that it was interesting that he said that 'seeing with your ears' is kind of already wired into your brain and you just have to put it into action. I think that more schools and organizations should teach echolocation because it would help blind people so much to go about daily life regularly. I'm not sure why so few schools and organizations decided to teach it. I think that a lot of people are being too stubborn to try new things, and they just need to realize how much it would help people to learn echolocation.

Cami said...

I think that video and article were very interesting. It was so cool how he knew exactly what the object was that was near him, and how to find it he just had to click. He said that he was clicking at about 15 months, which is like a year old. He must have been a really smart baby! Anyways, I think that he is so cool for being able to do those things with his mouth and his senses.

Alex G. said...

I think this article was incredible! I think it is amazing how this man can click and know how many feet the structure is away from him. A normal human cannot even do that. This article was a real eye-opener.

Esther said...

This is actually a very smart idea, to use ecolocation. This man is pretty clever. I'm surprised, however, that more schools for the blind haven't expressed interest in teaching it.

Amanda said...

This article was awesome! Who would imagine that a blind person could walk around town by moving a stick and clicking their tongue? I think in room 4 or 5, like Emma said, we did it with clapping. I wasn't that good at it... I'm very surprised that they don't teach it in more schools for the blind too. It was really cool how he said that he started at about 15 months. I liked how he did very soft, faint clicks, and then he could do loud clicks.

Sofia said...

This video was very interesting and cool because I never heard of a person that could walk around the town without being not able to see. It was also very cool that he knew what the object was! I wouldn't go to different places because I wouldn't be brave enough to close my eyes and walk around. I wouldn't even do it inside my house!

Robert said...

This was a very interesting article. Not only is he very clever like what Colin said, but he's also very skilled. It must be hard using a stick to guide yourself.

Sam said...

Wow, this is very interesting. This man should open a school to teach the blind to "see with their ears"! It's amazing that he can sense how far away an object is just by the click of his tongue, and that he learnt this when he was just 15 months! Daniel Kish must be very intelligent! He is an inspiration to all the blind people who didn't think they could view anything.

Nick said...

I wonder how Kish learned to use echolocation at such a young age. It's cool to think that humans can use echolocation too. I always thought that only bats and dolphins could use it.

Camille said...

Wow! I didn't know that blind people click their tongue for echo location. It's really amazing!

Max said...

I think that this is somewhat like plant adaptations possibly you need to be forced to make an adaptation to make that adaptation. I room five we tried using our hand in echolocation, but that didn't work. Maybe if we were blind and actually couldn't see (I know that at least a few of us were cheating) it would work. The other possibility is that it only works for mouth and ears after all, that is what the people in this article, bats , and dolphins are doing. I am very surprised that the man was able to walk around the city without a guide. (I am surprised at all the articles on this blog, however.) Possibly the people needed a license or something like that to walk around the city on his own. Perhaps that is the reason that the schools would not except the training. Or maybe they thought that it was to dangerous. We should find out...

Anthony said...

This video and article was very interesting. Mr. Kish learnt this technique at a very young age and now is working to try to help other people. He seems like a modern day hero. I remember in Room 4 or 5 we tried to do this with claps and most of the class did not do very well. I think that is the problem. It seems very difficult to learn that. It proves that if you try to do something you can do it. I found this video very inspiring because he overcame many hardships to be able to "see." I hope he gets more sponsors and good luck.

Nate said...

That article and video were both really interesting. It is amazing how he can use echolocation to see. I like how he described it seeing that way as flashes of dim light. It is nice that he is teaching kids to use echolocation, and I am surprised that there are only a few companies that are willing to help. I think, even if people think it is weird, using echolocation is much better than having someone guide you around all the time. Also, learning echolocation would save you a lot of money, because having a someone guide yo around must cost a lot of money

Sinclaire said...

This is so cool! I knew that animals such as bats and dolphins use echolocation, but I didn't know that humans could do it too. It is so interesting how he adapted to being blind and taught himself how to use echolocation. It is amazing how he can sense things up to 50 feet away with just a quiet click. It would be so cool if he could teach other blind people how to do this.

Gillian said...

This man is really smart. Even though he has been training for half of his life it's still amazing how a tiny click can figure out your surroundings. I wonder if part of our brains are wired the same way as a bat's is. He said in the video that it is really easy to teach, to blind people, but I wonder if it would be as easy to teach to people who can see. The person who could see would have to train their ears for a very long time to be as sensitive as that. They would also have to have tremendous perseverence because they would have to keep working at it because they could just open their eyes and know exactly where the object was and what it was. Also, do the blind people ever pick up birds with their clicky thing because if they do then if they were walking by the water they could try to avoid the bird and fall in. On the other hand, they have a stick to help guide them so that wouldn't be very likely.

Luca said...

This is an awesome post. It is amazing how he could click and then listen in for the sound waves bouncing back.

Ryan said...

I think this was one of the most interesting posts so far. I have never heard of clicking and it was really amazing to learn about. I think it is cool how he knows how many feet away stuff is from him. I think it is also cool how he can make really soft quiet clicks and then there are some really loud clicks. In all I found this article really cool, and I am fascinated by this man and how he sees.

Caroline said...

That is so cool. I wonder how he learned to do that at such a young age. He must be really good at eco location. He must have really good hearing to make up for his loss of sight. It is amazing how his ears can no about how far away an object is. I wonder if he knows how to do it with anything other then clicking, or clicking is just the best way of doing it. I wonder if he is the only one who does this. Are there other people in the world who know how to do this? Could all blind people be trained to do this? Maybe people who aren't blind could be trained to do that for when they are in a dark place for some reason. I wonder if the volume of the sound effects how much you can hear the sound bounce off of an object.It would probably be harder to train a person who did know how to see, because they would not be so desperate to use it all the time. It is probably much like learning a language. It is definately very cool what he can do.

Kevin said...

It's really amazing how people find one way or another to survive. Normally, people would use sight, but if you lose that, you would have to use a secondary sense, usually hearing. However, if you can see, your ears are not trained very well. If you can't, your ears suddenly become so much more keen.

Luca said...

I tried to echolocate for an entire day, but it was incredibly hard. I managed not to bump into anything the size of a toilet or bigger, though. The small railings were a challenge. I would recommend never playing "Blind Handball!"

Edie said...

This is soooooooooo cool! How did he learn to do that? I feel bad for him because he lost both of his eyes by the age of 13 months. I tried doing that clicking thing, but I couldn't. What happened to his face? How did he lose his eyes? Why doesn't he have those sunglasses that blind people usually wear? Why is he wearing that name tag around his neck? It must be a little bothersome to carry around that stick everywhere. It was Room 5 when we did the clapping thing while we were learning about bats.