Ran across this article on whether blind people can hear better than sighted people:
Blind People Hear Better: Truth or Myth?
Blind People Hear Better: Truth or Myth?
Can't remember on what show it was but there was a guy who lost his sight at a young age and steadily developed the ability to locate objects and navigate through some crude form of echo location using clicking sounds he made with his tongue.
He can't locate small objects but he could walk around without bumping into things using this technique also in surroundings not familiar to him.
I found that quite astonishing.
He can't locate small objects but he could walk around without bumping into things using this technique also in surroundings not familiar to him.
I found that quite astonishing.
I remember coming across this effect some years ago when I read about an experiment where they removed the whiskers from kittens (I don't know how they could bring themselves to mutilate the poor kittens, but anyway...) then at a later stage in their life examined their brains.
They found that the part of the brain responsible for processing the whisker input had become rewired to process input from other senses. Furthermore, this effect was stronger the earlier in the kitten's life the whiskers were removed; if the kitten was already fully grown when the whiskers were removed then only a little rewiring occurred.
It's no surprise that the same happens in humans.
They found that the part of the brain responsible for processing the whisker input had become rewired to process input from other senses. Furthermore, this effect was stronger the earlier in the kitten's life the whiskers were removed; if the kitten was already fully grown when the whiskers were removed then only a little rewiring occurred.
It's no surprise that the same happens in humans.
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