Daniel Aspland, aged four, clicks his tongue and by listening to the way the noise bounces off nearby objects can work out his environment, in a similar way to dolphins and bats use echo-location. Blind from birth, Daniel can now go out without having to hold his mother's hand or use his white stick and can even negotiate stairs.
"We could see him walking towards a fence and my heart stopped. But literally without using a stick or anything he just knew it was there and walked around it. I was so amazed."Quote from Jamie Aspland, Daniel's mother from Sky News
The technique was pioneered by blind Calafornian Daniel Kish, founder of World Access for the Blind. In time Daniel should be able to distinguish the location and even size of buildings, objects and people up to 100m away. The method has also helped behavioural problems caused by Daniel's frustration.
Read the full story and watch a video of Daniel on the Sky News web site.
I also discovered this inspiring web site about Ben Underwood (click here) an American boy who discovered echo-location himself after losing his sight at an early age to Retnoblastoma (childhood eye cancer). Using his hearing Ben could rollerblade, ride bikes and many other things thought impossible for the blind. Tragically Ben died of cancer at the age of 16 but his legacy has been an insiration to many.
Below is a video about Ben Underwood from the documentary Extraordinary People":
Wikipedia has a page dedicated to human echo-location here. It deals with the history of human echo-location and gives more examples of the phenomenon.
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