Everyone can learn echolocation in 10 weeks, science study has found

Everyone can learn echolocation in 10 weeks, science study has found

With adequate training, most humans can learn to echo, that is, to create their own tongue sounds and to interpret repetitive echoes that are reflected by the surrounding environment.

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In just 10 weeks, the researchers were able to teach participants to overcome obstacles and recognize the size and orientation of objects using their echoes. Noise. The experiment involved 12 participants who were found to be legally blind in childhood and 14 who visited.

Echolocation or echolocation is a skill that we commonly associate with animals such as bats and whales, but some blind humans also use their echoes to detect obstacles and their exteriors. Some use cane tapping or crushing fingers to make the desired noise, while others use the mouth to make a sound.

Despite the best use of this skill, very few visually impaired people are currently trained in this technique. Expert ecologists have been trying to get the message across for years, this news Study In this case, most of us say that a simple training program will suffice to master the technique. “I do not know of any other work done with blind participants, which received such an enthusiastic reception.” Says Lore Thaler, a psychologist at the University of Durham in the UK.

The researchers found that of more than 20 training sessions lasting about 2-3 hours, all young and old blind and visually impaired participants significantly improved in echo location. For several weeks, participants were trained to navigate virtual hallucinations (D, U, and Zigzag corridors) and identify the size and orientation of potential objects using oral sounds.

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During the last two sessions, participants tested their new navigation skills on a virtual journey. Even without believing the vision, there were far fewer conflicts than in the beginning of the project in this unfamiliar environment.

So the scientists came to the following conclusion: the echoes of their own sounds helped people go through the maze easier than before. After all, they found that these newly trained echolocators worked almost as well as the seven expert echolocators in hallucinations, and they used their skills for many years. In additional experiments to determine the shape and orientation of some surfaces, study participants obtained the same results as the experts.

Age has no effect on echocardiography

Previous studies have shown that visitors can learn echo by echoing a series of exercises, but this is the first study to check whether these results apply equally to the visually impaired and those with disabilities. ‘Different age. To “see” the world around us, echolocators generally use the abilities of parts of the brain that are related to vision. Until now, it is not known whether individuals who grow without vision can use the same neural networks to the same extent.

In addition, many people lose their eyesight and hearing as they age. It can be very difficult to learn new skills as you age, but new research suggests that this is not a controlling factor in learning echo location. In the study, the 79-year-old blind man was able to acquire this skill with adequate training. When examining the results, the researchers found that advanced age was not associated with more conflicts with the maze.

Credit: MedImaging

“When we calculate the extent of participants’ skill development between Session 1 and Session 20 for each task, it should be noted that there is no data to prove that there is a correlation between age and performance. The training produced significant behavioral changes regardless of the age of the participants.” Can we study in the study?

Three months after the end of the training sessions, the blind participants reported improvement in their movement thanks to the echo location. In the follow-up survey, 10 out of 12 participants said that this skill contributes to their independence and well-being.

Isn’t that wonderful?

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