How to 'Speak' Like Dolphins

Distinguishing what types of objects surround you in the dark could prove to come in handy in various situations, as, for example, when working in an environment where you have little visibility and the eyes don't help you much. Once again taking their inspiration from the animal world, scientists have recently developed a way to teach people how to use basic echolocation, the same process that dolphins and bats use to tell if there are obstacles in their path. But, while they have specially designed structures inside their bodies that evolved specifically to fulfill this task, we have to rely on our mouth and ears for the job, and experts say it's not always easy.

However, in a recent issue of the scientific journal Acta Acustica united with Acustica, scientists from the University of Alcala de Henares, in Spain, detail how as little as two weeks of special training enable people to figure out if objects are in front of them, by using a special kind of “click” sounds, generated by the tongue and the palate. A couple more weeks, and the participants could tell the difference between trees and pavement. The hardest part about learning echolocation is to figure out how sound waves change depending on the material they strike.

The basic principles of the technique are very simple. With the tongue and the palate, people generate a certain type of click, and then they listen to what it sounds like in the open. Once they've mastered the correct “intonation,” those who want to learn can listen to subtle differences in the way they hear the clicks they generate, which are caused by the type, shape and size of materials that the sound waves slam into. With a lot of training, people can get to a point where they can tell apart a large number of objects and types of materials, reaching a point when they can safely navigate a maze without tripping.

“The almost ideal sound is the 'palate click,' a click made by placing the tip of the tongue on the palate, just behind the teeth, and moving it quickly backwards,” acoustics expert Juan Antonio Martinez, from the University of Alcala de Henares, explained in a statement. “Two hours per day for a couple of weeks are enough to distinguish whether you have an object in front of you. Within another couple of weeks, you can tell the difference between trees and pavement.”

“Acoustically, according to laws of physics, it’s certainly possible to make a pulse that will tell you something about objects in front of you, such as fences, garbage cans or basketballs. My gut tells me if you can do it if you’re blind, you can do it if you can see. Half the battle is really trying to get yourself in the groove of 'I can do this if I try.' We tend to be more visual animals than acoustic, and people don’t usually do it because there’s not a need for it,” University of Cincinnati Audiologist Peter Scheifele added, quoted by Wired.