The boy 'looked' with his ears

A blind boy in England has the ability to identify objects after being taught the dolphin method to help locate echoes.

Little boy Jamie Aspland and his mother.Photo: Philip Toscano.

Telegraph said Jamie Aspland, 4 years old, lives in the city of Ashford, Kent county, England. The boy has no eyes since birth. He recently attended a course on sound positioning organized by a World Support for the Blind organization dedicated to the blind in the United States.

Daniel Kish, president of this organization, is also a blind man. Kish successfully developed a method capable of helping blind people imagine their surroundings thanks to sound waves reflected from objects. FlashSonar - the name of the method - was developed based on the high frequency echolocation technique of dolphins in the country.

After the first training session Jamie could avoid the fence. When the third training session ended Jamie walked from the house to the park without using any assistive equipment. He placed the tip of his tongue on the upper palate to make a sound. When the sound waves from the mouth touched an object, it returned to Jamie's ears. Thanks to these methods, Jamie was able to determine the size, shape and distance of the object. That process is exactly the same as the way ordinary people look at objects thanks to the reflection of light.

"The echolocation method really changed our lives. Since Jamie attended the training, I can walk to the park without having to hold my hand. I can even create these. sound to identify stair rails while walking downstairs. It's hard to believe, " said Deborah Aspland, Jamie's mother.

Kish was also surprised at Jamie's ability. He said in the future FlashSonar could help him locate buildings at distances up to 100 meters.

"FlashSonar allows you to detect trees 10 meters away from the body, but for large buildings you can detect them at distances up to 100 meters. It's like the bright-eyed people observe them in low light. " Said Kish.