Compared with the echolocation performance of an expert who is blind, sighted novices rapidly learned size and position discrimination with surprising precision. We used a novel task to characterize the population distribution of echolocation skills in sighted persons and report the highest-known human echolocation acuity in the expert who is blind.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AmmonsC. H., WorchelP., & DallenbachK. M. (1953). “Facial vision”: The perception of obstacles out of doors by blindfolded and blindfolded-deafened subjects. American Journal of Psychology, 66, 519–553.
2.
AriasC., CuretC. A., MoyanoH. F., JoekesS., & BlanchN. (1993). Echolocation: A study of auditory functioning in blind and sighted subjects. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 87, 73–77.
3.
AriasC., & RamosO. A. (1997). Psychoacoustic tests for the study of human echolocation ability. Applied Acoustics, 51, 399–419.
4.
AshmeadD. H. (2008). Visual experience and the concept of compensatory spatial hearing abilities. In RieserJ. J., AshmeadD. H., EbnerF. F., & CornA. L. (Eds.), Blindness and brain plasticity in navigation and object perception (pp. 367–380). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
5.
AshmeadD. H., HillE. W., & TalorC. R. (1989). Obstacle perception by congenitally blind children. Perception and Psychophysics, 46, 425–433.
6.
BassettI. G., & EastmondE. J. (1964). Echolocation: Measurement of pitch versus distance for sounds reflected from a flat surface. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 36, 911–916.
7.
BlauertJ., & AllenJ. S. (1997). Spatial hearing: The psychophysics of human sound localization (rev. ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
8.
BoehmR. (1986). The use of echolocation as a mobility aid for blind persons. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 80, 953–954.
9.
ClarkeN. V., PickG. F., & WilsonJ. P. (1975). Obstacle detection with and without the aid of a directional noise generator. American Foundation for the Blind Research Bulletin, 29, 67–85.
10.
CotzinM., & DallenbachK. M. (1950). “Facial vision”: The role of pitch and loudness in the perception of obstacles by the blind. American Journal of Psychology, 63, 485–515.
11.
DespresO., CandasV., & DufourA. (2005). Auditory compensation in myopic humans: Involvement of binaural, monaural, or echo cues?Brain Research, 104, 56–65.
12.
DoucetM. E., GuillemotJ. P., LassondeM., GagneJ. P., LeclercC., & LeporeF. (2005). Blind subjects process auditory spectral cues more efficiently than sighted individuals. Experimental Brain Research, 160, 194–202.
13.
DufourA., DespresO., & CandasV. (2005). Enhanced sensitivity to echo cues in blind subjects. Experimental Brain Research, 165, 515–519.
14.
HarleyH. E., PutmanE. A., & RoitblatH. L. (2003). Bottlenose dolphins perceive object features through echolocation. Nature, 424(6949), 667–669.
15.
HausfeldS., PowerR. P., GortaA., & HarrisP. (1982). Echo perception of shape and texture by sighted subjects. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 55, 623–632.
16.
HerzogM. H., & FahleM. (1997). The role of feedback in learning a vernier discrimination task. Vision Research, 37, 2133–2141.
17.
HughesB. (2001). Active artificial echolocation and the nonvisual perception of aperture passability. Human Movement Science, 20(4-5), 371–400.
18.
JuurmaaJ., & SuonioK. (1975). The role of audition and motion in the spatial orientation of the blind and the sighted. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 16, 209–216.
19.
KelloggW. N. (1962). Sonar system of the blind. Science, 137, 399–404.
20.
KniestedtC., & StamperR. L. (2003). Visual acuity and its measurement. Ophthalmology Clinics of North America, 16, 155–170.
21.
KohlerI. (1964). Orientation by aural cues. American Foundation for the Blind Research Bulletin, 4, 14–53.
22.
MarrD. (1982). Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information.San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.
23.
McCartyB., & WorchelP. (1954). Rate of motion and object perception in the blind. New Outlook for the Blind, 48(11), 316–322.
24.
McKeeS. P., & WestheimerG. (1978). Improvement in vernier acuity with practice. Perception and Psychophysics, 24, 258–262.
25.
RiceC. E. (1967). Human echo perception. Science, 155(763), 656–664.
26.
RiceC. E. (1969). Perceptual enhancement in the early blind?Psychological Record, 19(1), 1–14.
27.
RiceC. E., & FeinsteinS. H. (1965). Sonar system of the blind: Size discrimination. Science, 148, 1107–1108.
28.
RiceC. E., FeinsteinS. H., & SchustermanR. J. (1965). Echo-detection ability of the blind: Size and distance factors. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70, 246–255.
29.
RosenblumL. D., GordonM. S., & JarquinL. (2000). Echolocating distance by moving and stationary listeners. Ecological Psychology, 12, 181–206.
30.
SchenkmanB. N., & NilssonM. E. (2010). Human echolocation: Blind and sighted persons’ ability to detect sounds recorded in the presence of a reflecting object. Perception, 39, 483–501.
31.
SimmonsJ. A., MoffatA. J., & MastersW. M. (1992). Sonar gain control and echo detection thresholds in the echolocating bat, Eptesicus fuscus. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 91, 1150–1163.
32.
SlaneyM. (1998). A critique of pure audition. In RosenthalD. F., & OkunoN. G. (Eds.), Computational auditory scene analysis (pp. 27–41). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
33.
SnellenH. M. D. (1863). Art. XXIV.-Test-types for the determination of the acuteness of vision. American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 44(92).
34.
StoffregenT. A., & PittengerJ. B. (1995). Human echolation as a basic form of perception and action. Ecological Psychology, 7, 181–216.
35.
StrelowE. R., & BrabynJ. A. (1982). Locomotion of the blind controlled by natural sound cues. Perception, 11, 635–640.
36.
SupaM., CotzinM., & DallenbachK. M. (1944). “Facial vision”: The perception of obstacles by the blind. American Journal of Psychology, 57(2), 133–183.
37.
ThomasJ. A., MossC. F., & VaterM. (2004). Echolocation in bats and dolphins.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
38.
WelchJ. (1964). A psychoacoustic study of factors affecting human echolocation. American Foundation for the Blind Research Bulletin, 4, 1–13.
39.
WestfallP. H., & KrishenA. (2001). Optimally weighted, fixed sequence and gatekeeper multiple testing procedures. Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference, 99, 25–40.
40.
WestheimerG., & McKeeS. P. (1977). Integration regions for visual hyperacuity. Vision Research, 17(1), 89–93.
41.
WestheimerG. (1979). The spatial sense of the eye: Proctor lecture. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 18(9), 893–912.
42.
WichmannF. A., & HillN. J. (2001a). The psychometric function: I. Fitting, sampling and goodness-of-fit. Perception and Psychophysics, 63, 1293–1313.
43.
WichmannF. A., & HillN. J. (2001b). The psychometric function: II. Bootstrap-based confidence intervals and sampling. Perception and Psychophysics, 63, 1314–1329.
44.
WorchelP., & BerryJ. H. (1952). The perception of obstacles by the deaf. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 43(3), 187–194.