I was delighted to read this, Katrina. Back in 1960, my wife Yvonne and I very nearly went to do our Ph.D. work with Don Griffin (instead we went for a year to India and everything changed)! In his book "Echoes of Bats and Men", published in 1959, he had already described a study conducted at Cornell that provided compelling experimental evidence of echolocation by humans. It's good enough to allow them to locate the pushbuttons on an elevator control panel without touching anything. He also suggested that one of the main function of the white sticks that blind people often tap around with, in addition to detecting obstacles by bumping into them, is to generate echoes. And throughout, Griffin emphasized that people who rely heavily on echolocation are generally not aware of it! Thanks for bringing me up-to-date!
Oh wow, that's awesome! And what an awesome detour you took in life! Thank you for sharing your story and knowledge, John. As always, I appreciate you.
I was delighted to read this, Katrina. Back in 1960, my wife Yvonne and I very nearly went to do our Ph.D. work with Don Griffin (instead we went for a year to India and everything changed)! In his book "Echoes of Bats and Men", published in 1959, he had already described a study conducted at Cornell that provided compelling experimental evidence of echolocation by humans. It's good enough to allow them to locate the pushbuttons on an elevator control panel without touching anything. He also suggested that one of the main function of the white sticks that blind people often tap around with, in addition to detecting obstacles by bumping into them, is to generate echoes. And throughout, Griffin emphasized that people who rely heavily on echolocation are generally not aware of it! Thanks for bringing me up-to-date!
Oh wow, that's awesome! And what an awesome detour you took in life! Thank you for sharing your story and knowledge, John. As always, I appreciate you.