Category: Daily Living
Sorry if this doesn't belong here, but I figured since mobility is a daily activity for many, it would be appropriate. Anyway, is anyone hre really good with echo location? I'm not the best cane traveller myself, but I love using echo location as much as possible, even though I wasn't fully trained in it. I was hoping to get a few tips and to hear people's experiences with it. Also, has anyone went to the program put together by World Access For The Blind?
http://www.worldaccessfortheblind.org
If so, is it good/worth it?
i always thought echo location was so weird, still do, like it looks so strange to people who see one clicking lol
I use it rather crudely. With the cane, I'm a "tapper" not a "slider". As such, I get some echo location information back. I will obviously never get it to the point that the gentleman who I've met that developped it has done, but its pretty amazing.
Lou
i've used it with the cane, but I don't rely on it so much with Steven my guide dog anymore. i'd rely on the sound my footsteps made when I was walking to know where things were.
My sense of echo location came naturally to me; I remember using it since I was very little. I've never used the clicking though, but rather, all the sounds around me.
That's actually how it's been with me. I can hear things near me either by the sound of my cane being near the object or just by listening if I'm near an open area. But I'd like to really fine-tune my skills so I can put them to stronger and better use.
I'm one of those that learned it naturally. I seem to have a higher sense of hearing for things like that, just picking up where walls or poles and the like are. Though I do ocasionally use a click sound to tell where things are (where a building is that's across a parking lot sort of stuff.) Though like Joanne I don't think I use it as much as I used to now that I have a guide dog (at least the active clicks or anything. I still use it passively.)
I use it a little with my cane, but its not vary developed. any tips on how to do that?
I use the tapping method and it works better than sliding in term so of determining whether or not an object is coming up.
I just don't know about the "clicking your tongue" method though. hahaha
Personally, I use any kind of click available in the absence of my cane. I'm a very loud finger snapper, and that works really well, too.
Lou
I don't remember ever learning echo location. I just always had it, or at least that's how it feels. I remember being very little, and being able to tell where things were by my footsteps. It astounded my family, that's for sure. And ever since I started using a cane at about the age of five, I used the tapping for echo location. I still do. However, I don't click my tongue for it. I think it is socially awkward, and makes us stand out, when all we have to do is tap our canes, or rely on footsteps if we use a guide dog, etc.
I only use the tongue click for finding buildings that are farther away, or if I need a really loud sound, and not in public that much. For me though it's less to do with embarrasment or anything like that, as much as if there are people around they usually make enough noise to give you the clues you need. It's when I don't have these clues that I'd use it.
Now that I've thought about eco-location thoroughly, I think i've had this ability ever since I was little. I've never used tongue clicking either.
I never knew the name for this... and never heard anyone consciously do it until a girl I played goalball with was snapping her fingers while running around the gym so she wouldn't run into a wall. To be honest I thought it was a stupid thing to do until I tried it myself!
I don't really do it in public unless there's music or something that I can snap my fingers along to the beat so I don't look crazy, or if I have my MP3 player on, it just looks like I am snapping to the beat of my own music which isn't that weird, I guess *smiles*
Crazy Kate
PS: I know it's bad, but I'm a cane dragger... perhaps this is why my canes get so beat up?
If you have a roller tip, it's not bad at all. That's why they were invented. *smile*
I LOVE roller-tips... that's why I do it, though I am tempted to start the two-point-touch technique up again, as it might help with echo location, as well as keeping my canes from getting SOOOO beat up!
I use echolocation from my cane and find that a metal tip helps a great deal with it.
I haven't developed it as well as some people I know, but I work with a guy that can stand across a parking lot, whack his cane against a curb and pick out the doorway.
The metal tip really makes a difference.
Metal cane tips? GET YOU! You're not serious?
metal cane tips are the best, in my humble opinion.
I have never even heard of them! Really?
I once had a straight fiber glass cane with a flat metal tip. I loved the lightness of the cane but the tip constantly got caught in cracks in the sidewalk. It eventually broke off if I remember correctly. I was a child at the time.
It's too bad that it seems either there's those of us who have it from birth or very young, or those who don't.
It seems someone could dissect it, figure out its parts, then somehow assist others who don't have it in learning how. Call it whatever you want but I always thought maybe it's a product of being blind, till coming on here and then exploring elsewhere where some blind people say they don't have it. I can't imagine what it's like to be blind and not have it as it gives you such spatial awareness of surroundings.
It's extremely helpful with or without a cane. Sounds make themselves when you move: the wind blows, or even inside I can't explain it, even standing still it still works somehow.
I never was taught it until, like I said above, a girl on my goalball team mentioned it. I think it's awesome! I learned it at age 25, and it's amazing!
hahahah. up to reading this topic here, I thought only indian blind people are fond of such habits. actually, most the blind people here are using this echo trick. even though they are using their cane for walking. but as per my city, it won't help us much since it's highly crowded and noicy.
I'm not good at it though. hence I got a little sight from my birth onwards. I use my cane alone.
Raaj.
I loved roller tips when I was a cane user. I found that the straight tips got stuck in cracks on the sidewalk etc and broke a lot. I usually did two point touch so I could get ideas on space if there weren't other sounds around. I've been using my seeing eye dog for three years now and I find that i use other sounds around me more than I did when I was a cane user.
I can sort of do this, but the clicking thing is really really weird to me. I used to clap when I was in the backyard playing when I was yunger to find the house and it worked really well. Now I use footsteps and such to tell where things are. I don't think I could find a door from across the parking lott though! Thats awsome!
the clicking thing isn't only weird, but simply doesn't work.
I know... I tried it at home once... sooo not worth it.