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Spanish scientists develop echo-location in humans
July 01, 2009A team of researchers from the University of Alcalá de Henares (UAH) has shown scientifically that human beings can develop echolocation, the system of acoustic signals used by dolphins and bats to explore their surroundings. Producing certain kinds of tongue clicks helps people to identify objects around them without needing to see them, something which would be especially useful for the blind.
"In certain circumstances, we humans could rival bats in our echolocation or biosonar capacity", Juan Antonio Martínez, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Superior Polytechnic School of the UAH, tells SINC. The team led by this scientist has started a series of tests, the first of their kind in the world, to make use of human beings' under-exploited echolocation skills.
In the first study, published in the journal Acta Acustica united with Acustica, the team analyses the physical properties of various sounds, and proposes the most effective of these for use in echolocation. "The almost ideal sound is the 'palate click, a click made by placing the tip of the tongue on the palate, just behind the teeth, and moving it quickly backwards, although it is often done downwards, which is wrong", Martínez explains.
The researcher says that palate clicks "are very similar to the sounds made by dolphins, although on a different scale, as these animals have specially-adapted organs and can produce 200 clicks per second, while we can only produce three or four". By using echolocation, "which is three-dimensional, and makes it possible to 'see' through materials that are opaque to visible radiation" it is possible to measure the distance of an object based on the time that elapses between the emission of a sound wave and an echo being received of this wave as it is reflected from the object.
In order to learn how to emit, receive and interpret sounds, the scientists are developing a method that uses a series of protocols. This first step is for the individual to know how to make and identify his or her own sounds (they are different for each person), and later to know how to use them to distinguish between objects according to their geometrical properties "as is done by ships' sonar".
Some blind people had previously taught themselves how to use echolocation "by trial and error". The best-known cases of these are the Americans Daniel Kish, the only blind person to have been awarded a certificate to act as a guide for other blind people, and Ben Underwood, who was considered to be the world's best "echolocator" until he died at the start of 2009.
However, no special physical skills are required in order to develop this skill. "Two hours per day for a couple of weeks are enough to distinguish whether you have an object in front of you, and within another two weeks you can tell the difference between trees and a pavement", Martínez tells SINC.
The scientist recommends trying with the typical "sh" sound used to make someone be quiet. Moving a pen in front of the mouth can be noticed straightaway. This is a similar phenomenon to that when travelling in a car with the windows down, which makes it possible to "hear" gaps in the verge of the road.
The next level is to learn how to master the "palate clicks". To make sure echoes from the tongue clicks are properly interpreted, the researchers are working with a laser pointer, which shows the part of an object at which the sound should be aimed.
A new way of seeing the world
Martínez has told SINC that his team is now working to help deaf and blind people to use this method in the future, because echoes are not only perceived by their ear, but also through vibrations in the tongue and bones. "For these kinds of people in particular, and for all of us in general, this would be a new way of perceiving the world".
Another of the team's research areas involves establishing the biological limits of human echolocation ability, "and the first results indicate that detailed resolution using this method could even rival that of sight itself". In fact, the researchers started out by being able to tell if there was someone standing in front of them, but now can detect certain internal structures, such as bones, and even "certain objects inside a bag".
The scientists recognise that they are still at the very early stages, but the possibilities that would be opened up with the development of echolocation in humans are enormous. This technique will be very practical not only for the blind, but also for professionals such as firemen (enabling them to find exit points through smoke), and rescue teams, or simply people lost in fog.
A better understanding of the mental mechanisms used in echolocation could also help to design new medical imaging technologies or scanners, which make use of the great penetration capacity of clicks. Martínez stresses that these sounds "are so penetrating that, even in environments as noisy as the metro, one can sense discontinuities in the platform or tunnels".
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
The researcher says that palate clicks "are very similar to the sounds made by dolphins, although on a different scale, as these animals have specially-adapted organs and can produce 200 clicks per second, while we can only produce three or four". By using echolocation, "which is three-dimensional, and makes it possible to 'see' through materials that are opaque to visible radiation" it is possible to measure the distance of an object based on the time that elapses between the emission of a sound wave and an echo being received of this wave as it is reflected from the object.
In order to learn how to emit, receive and interpret sounds, the scientists are developing a method that uses a series of protocols. This first step is for the individual to know how to make and identify his or her own sounds (they are different for each person), and later to know how to use them to distinguish between objects according to their geometrical properties "as is done by ships' sonar".
Some blind people had previously taught themselves how to use echolocation "by trial and error". The best-known cases of these are the Americans Daniel Kish, the only blind person to have been awarded a certificate to act as a guide for other blind people, and Ben Underwood, who was considered to be the world's best "echolocator" until he died at the start of 2009.
However, no special physical skills are required in order to develop this skill. "Two hours per day for a couple of weeks are enough to distinguish whether you have an object in front of you, and within another two weeks you can tell the difference between trees and a pavement", Martínez tells SINC.
The scientist recommends trying with the typical "sh" sound used to make someone be quiet. Moving a pen in front of the mouth can be noticed straightaway. This is a similar phenomenon to that when travelling in a car with the windows down, which makes it possible to "hear" gaps in the verge of the road.
The next level is to learn how to master the "palate clicks". To make sure echoes from the tongue clicks are properly interpreted, the researchers are working with a laser pointer, which shows the part of an object at which the sound should be aimed.
A new way of seeing the world
Martínez has told SINC that his team is now working to help deaf and blind people to use this method in the future, because echoes are not only perceived by their ear, but also through vibrations in the tongue and bones. "For these kinds of people in particular, and for all of us in general, this would be a new way of perceiving the world".
Another of the team's research areas involves establishing the biological limits of human echolocation ability, "and the first results indicate that detailed resolution using this method could even rival that of sight itself". In fact, the researchers started out by being able to tell if there was someone standing in front of them, but now can detect certain internal structures, such as bones, and even "certain objects inside a bag".
The scientists recognise that they are still at the very early stages, but the possibilities that would be opened up with the development of echolocation in humans are enormous. This technique will be very practical not only for the blind, but also for professionals such as firemen (enabling them to find exit points through smoke), and rescue teams, or simply people lost in fog.
A better understanding of the mental mechanisms used in echolocation could also help to design new medical imaging technologies or scanners, which make use of the great penetration capacity of clicks. Martínez stresses that these sounds "are so penetrating that, even in environments as noisy as the metro, one can sense discontinuities in the platform or tunnels".
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
Echolocation Current Events and Echolocation News RSSBats recognize the individual voices of other bats
Bats can use the characteristics of other bats' voices to recognize each other, according to a study by researchers from the University of Tuebingen, Germany and the University of Applied Sciences in Konstanz, Germany.
Whispering bats are 100 times louder than previously thought
Annemarie Surlykke from the University of Southern Denmark is fascinated by echolocation. She really wants to know how it works. Surlykke equates the ultrasound cries that bats use for echolocation with the beam of light from a torch: you won't see much with the light from a small bulb but you could see several hundred metres with a powerful beam.
Molecular evolution is echoed in bat ears
Bats' ability to echolocate may have evolved more than once, according to research published this week by Queen Mary, University of London scientists.
Why wind turbines can mean death for bats
Power-generating wind turbines have long been recognized as a potentially life-threatening hazard for birds. But at most wind facilities, bats actually die in much greater numbers.
Missing link shows bats flew first, developed echolocation later
The discovery of a remarkably well-preserved fossil representing the most primitive bat species known to date demonstrates that the animals evolved the ability to fly before they could echolocate.
Slow-motion video study shows shrews are highly sophisticated predators
Shrews are tiny mammals that have been widely characterized as simple and primitive. This traditional view is challenged by a new study of the hunting methods of an aquatic member of the species, the water shrew. It reveals remarkably sophisticated methods for detecting prey that allow it to catch small fish and aquatic insects as readily in the dark as in daylight.
Bats add their voice to the FOXP2 story
When it comes to the FOXP2 gene, humans have had most to shout about. Discoveries that mutations in this gene lead to speech defects and that the gene underwent changes around the time language evolved both implicate FOXP2 in the evolution of human language.
Migrating squid drove evolution of sonar in whales and dolphins, researchers argue
Behind the sailor's lore of fearsome battles between sperm whale and giant squid lies a deep question of evolution: How did these leviathans develop the underwater sonar needed to chase and catch squid in the inky depths"
Bats prey on nocturnally migrating songbirds
It was until now believed that nocturnally migrating songbirds, while venturing into the unfamiliar night sky for accomplishing their long, challenging trans-continental migrations, could at least release anti-predator vigilance thanks to the concealment of darkness.
Beaked Whales Perform Extreme Dives to Hunt Deepwater Prey
A study of ten beaked whales of two poorly understood species shows their foraging dives are deeper and longer than those reported for any other air-breathing species.
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Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins by Jeanette A. Thomas (Editor), Cynthia F. Moss (Editor), Marianne Vater (Editor) Although bats and dolphins live in very different environments, are vastly different in size, and hunt different kinds of prey, both groups have evolved similar sonar systems, known as echolocation, to locate food and navigate the skies and seas. While much research has been conducted over the past thirty years on echolocation in bats and dolphins, this volume is the first to compare what is known about echolocation in each group, to point out what information is missing, and to identify future areas of research. Echolocation in Bats and Dolphins consists of six sections: mechanisms of echolocation signal production; the anatomy and physiology of signal reception and interpretation; performance and cognition; ecological and evolutionary aspects of echolocation mammals; theoretical... |
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echolocation fruit bats (Performer) Echolocation is the debut album from Fruit Bats. Imaginary pop hits about the unsettling nature of the great outdoors, murderous fireflies and vengeful pigeons. Imagine Eno and Elton John wrecking a campfire sing-along. Timeless sounds finding the calm in absurdity. Echolocation creates a world where gentle harmonies and subtle guitars frame lines like "arms ripped off by shooting stars". Mandolin and marimbas lead into a chorus where “ The light refracts through the glass in your feet". Dirty country fiddles bend into synthesizer lines and icebergs into garlic fields. Where perfect falsetto pop mixes with images of urban writer’s block and Vikings high on mushrooms all in the same song. It’s sexual, space age country music about seeing the beauty in natural disaster. It makes... |
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EchoLocations by Diane Thiel (Author) At home with traditional forms and free verse patterns, Diane Thiel composes highly charged, evocative poems that celebrate and elucidate voyaging-in our own hearts and minds, to other lands, back and forth in time-the natural world, science, and her family's German heritage. Diane Thiel's poetry has appeared in The Best American Poetry 1999, The Hudson Review, Poetry, among others. She is the author of two chapbooks, Cleft in the Wall and The Minefield, both out from Aralia Press. She has an MFA from Brown University, and she teaches at the University of Miami. |
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ABC News Specials Medical Mysteries Series-Episode #3 Medical science has progressed exponentially in recent times, but scientists are still left with unanswered questions when it comes to the human body. "Medical Mysteries" looks at some of the rarest disorders and syndromes in medicine today. Meet a woman whose body exudes a strange and overwhelming smell that has resulted in constant embarrassment, leaving a job, and being ridiculed for years. Next, meet a boy who is blind, but that hasn't stopped him from "seeing." He rollerblades, rides his bike, even shoots hoops. He is one of the few known people who,like a bat or a dolphin, use echolocation to "see" by the sounds he makes. Next, learn about Foreign Accent Syndrome, where a person finds themselves speaking their native language but with a distinctly different accent, and they... |
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Echolocation in Whales and Dolphins by P. E. Purves (Author), Pilleri. G. E. (Author) | |
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Echolocation in animals by E. Sh Airapetiants (Author) | |
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Echolocation by Public Record Public Record's second release finds the band in full-on collaboration mode as they join forces with 11 artists of differing musical backgrounds to remix and rethink five songs from the band's 2008 self-titled debut album. Echolocation boasts an original mixture of artists that should surprise those listeners expecting a typical brand of remix album. Individuals like Guy Picciottto (Fugazi, Rites of Spring), Alasdair MacLean (The Clientele), Mac McCaughan (Superchunk, Portastatic), and Quentin Stoltzfus (Mazarin) are here, remixing for the first time alongside famed indie rock producer/remixer Mark Robinson (Unrest, Air Miami). Also featured are remixes by some promising new and underground acts like A Sunny Day In Glasgow, Collette Columbirch, and Arc In Round. The inclusion of... |
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ECHOLOCATION IN ANIMALS. by E. & A. Konstantinov Airapetyants (Author), Drawings b & w Photos (Illustrator) |
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