Bats can do it, why can't we

[alan2here]

Bats have a clever systems built into them to help them see in the dark using sound

 

I'm assuming most of you know roughly how it works

http://science.howstuffworks.com/bat2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat

 

However seeing in sound instead of light means they see in a completely different way, for example among other things the objects density and surface qualities of the objects like is it rough or furry or smooth or at an angle would have a large effect on how sound is deflected by the object in a very different way to light, also sources of sound are difrent than those of light.

 

loud sound seems travels though walls for example to annoy the nabours when light would probably not do.

 

so, why can't we make an artificial bat?

 

I suspect it is because we can't get microphones that are directional enough or that we cant make high pitched and loud enough noise with the right delays for it to work. maybe its been done before and I don't know, or its been done and is impracticly big\expensive.

[YT2095]

we can, it`s called SONAR, or echo transponders

[alan2here]

Sonar = Radar in water

Radar = way to big to be practical

 

"echo transponders"? I can't find much info online about them if its an "audio camra" that works like a bat does it I want one.

[Sisyphus]

Isn't that how sonar works?

 

EDIT: Haha, 3 replies at once.

[YT2095]

ever seen how an ultrasonic tape measure works, or simple robot navigation/ collision detectors in cars.

same thing really

[insane_alien]

http://www.eddiem.com/projects/chirp/chirp.htm

 

^ a fun little project. ultimately useless but fun none the less.

[Externet]

My jaw dropped to the floor last week watching a television documental intervieving two blind kids riding bicycles ! and playing basketball ! self guided by continuosly clacking their tongues and listening to echoes.

 

They are able to discern parked cars, pedestrians, obstacles.

 

Perhaps if you do a deep search of the net, something may be transcribed here. It is well worth the effort to find such article.

 

Miguel

[alan2here]

wow, that does sound unlikely externet, would be amazing if it where true, maybe there is a google video of it, google video often has TV programs and such

[GutZ]

I know in instrumentation they have a wide variety of ultrasonic detectors. The range is usually limited to a pipe or something like that. If someone really wanted to, I believe they can make it.

[iglak]

My jaw dropped to the floor last week watching a television documental intervieving two blind kids riding bicycles ! and playing basketball ! self guided by continuosly clacking their tongues and listening to echoes.

 

They are able to discern parked cars, pedestrians, obstacles.

 

Perhaps if you do a deep search of the net, something may be transcribed here. It is well worth the effort to find such article.

 

Miguel

i saw something on that too. i think i saw it on 'Ripley's Believe it or Not!' 3 or 4 years ago. they also started a school to teach other blind people how to do it.

 

so just now i searched "human echolocation" on google.

Horray for Wikipedia!

it can apparently also be used with any object that makes a distinguished clicking noise. i imagine people have used their canes for it before.

 

And here's an article on Ben Underwood, who started training himself to use echolocation when he was 10 years old.

 

And this article (also linked to by the second article) suggests that all manner of sounds can be used, including human speach.

"All subjects also oscillated their heads from side to side.... In this way the blind could enhance binaural localization of sound".

 

And here's an article which is momre directly about Ben Underwood. he's quoted a lot in this article, and linked is a video of him playing with a dolphin.

 

World Access for the Blind is the school Dan Kish started to teach echolocation.

 

And this article says (on page 3), "The bottom line: Human beings send out sounds at much slower rates and lower frequencies, so the objects people can picture with echolocation must be much larger than the ones bats and dolphins can find."

which implies that if people learned how to click using their voices rather than their tongues, they could echolocate much more accurately. or, if a device were created that makes clicks much more frequently and at a higher frequency (perhaps controlled by voice to vary frequency and spacing), the users could echolocate much more accurately as well. of course, there's a limit as to how much sound information the brain can process compared to bats or dolphins, but still.

 

 

that was a fun net surf