Echolocation, is shared by many other species, including whales and dolphins — even people can learn how to use it.
Now, new research shows that both sighted people and those who are blind can learn how to echolocate using clicking noises, either from one’s own mouth, footsteps or walking cane taps, after just 10 weeks of training.
The study out of Durham University in England found that neither age nor level of vision loss limited people’s ability to learn click-based echolocation or use the skill during different tasks. What’s more, all participants who were blind said their new talent improved their mobility, while 83% said their independence and well-being got a big boost.
Can anyone learn click-based echolocation?
The researchers suggest that “any time is a good time to start learning click-based echolocation,” particularly for people with vision impairments or those who expect to lose their sight later in life.
“I cannot think of any other work with blind participants that has had such enthusiastic feedback… the improvements we observed in the lab transcended into positive life benefits outside the lab,” study lead author Dr. Lore Thaler, an experimental psychologist at Durham University, said in a statement. “We are very excited about this and feel that it would make sense to provide information and training in click-based echolocation to people who may still have good functional vision, but who are expected to lose vision later in life because of progressive degenerative eye conditions.”
Who participated in the study?
A total of 14 sighted people and 12 people who were declared legally blind in childhood completed 20 training sessions, each between two to three hours long, over 10 weeks in a “sound-insulated and echo-acoustic” lab at the university and in natural environments. Seven experts in click-based echolocation who were blind served as benchmarks in the study.
All participants were between 21 and 79 years old, with the group of people who were blind being significantly older. They were tasked with finding circular disks propped up on standing poles while researchers graded them on size discrimination, orientation perception and virtual navigation.
What was the results of the study?
Both people with and without vision loss improved their echolocation skills over the course of their training, and in some cases, they performed better than the designated “experts,” the researchers said, with no notable differences in skill caused by age or level of vision. Unexpectedly, some sighted people performed better than those who were blind.
The findings seemingly contradict previous research that suggested people who are blind can learn complex skills such as echolocation faster than sighted people because their visual deprivation heightens other senses such as hearing needed to do daily activities. Researchers offered a possible explanation: the sighted participants were younger on average than the others or had slightly better hearing.
Is Click-based echolocation training a part of current rehabilitation for people who are blind or visually impaired?
Click-based echolocation training is not a part of current rehabilitation for people who are blind or visually impaired, but the researchers said there’s no reason it can’t be now that the technique has been shown to benefit livelihoods.
The study was published in the journal PLOS One.
