Evaluating Two Ways to Train Sensitivity to Echoes to Improve Echolocation
Author(s)
Heller, Laurie M.
Schenker, Arley
Grover, Pulkit
Gardner, Madeline
Liu, Felix
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Abstract
We investigated whether training sighted individuals to
attend to information in echoes could improve their
active echolocation ability. We evaluated two training
techniques that involved artificially generated sounds.
Both artificial techniques were evaluated by their effect
on natural echolocation of real objects with
self-generated clicks. One group trained by
discriminating sounds presented over headphones in the
lab. The lateral displacement or distance of the echo was
varied in a staircase procedure. The second training
group used an echolocation app on a smartphone. They
navigated a maze by using echo cues presented over
earbuds. The echo cues had 3D audio virtual reality
cues. Participants in the control condition did not
improve but the majority of participants who trained did
improve. The lab training is labor intensive whereas the
app training was self-guided and convenient. This has
implications for training methods aimed at echolocation
that might ultimately be useful for navigation by visually
impaired individuals.
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Date
2017-06
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Proceedings
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.