ZERO TO SUPERHERO | STRONGER, FASTER, SMARTER

I remember the experience clearly. There was an electrical blackout in my neighbourhood, and inside the apartment building where myself and several of my buddies lived was pitch black. The darkness was so thick; I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. That was a problem, considering two friends and I had to walk up the stairway several floors, find our floor, then find our apartment. We stumbled up the stairs in the darkness, silent except for the sound of our steps and quickening breath. Who knows how long we might’ve been stranded in that stairwell, if it wasn’t for the blind man who lived downstairs from us on the second floor. He heard our confusion and responded, leading us practically to our door.

The tables had been officially turned. In this world of darkness, the blind could see. The meek had inherited the earth.
 

I understand now what special ability the blind hero had. It wasn’t simply good hearing, but a heightened visual spacial awareness called “echolocation”. Individuals with echolocation can discern shapes and spaces from the delicate echoes and reverberations of their surroundings, in relation to themselves, even while in motion. It’s an ability, as study after study has shown, that most people have in various degrees (more so in blind people), and that can be developed. There’s even a Training Guide to Human Echolocation at World Access for the Blind. 

But how can sound be such an effective substitute for sight? It’s important to understand the different components that create sound. There is the pitch, which is the perceived fundamental frequency of the sound. The human ear can hear anything as low as 20 Hz (the lowest note on a tuba) and as high as 20 kHz (the sound television emits). There is also timbre, which is the uniqueness of the sound, and envelope, which basically means how the sound starts, and how long the sound peaks in intensity before decaying to zero. When a sound is produced, it travels as waves of energy, a physical entity felt in greater or lesser degrees depending on a number of factors (the intensity and quality of the signal, the distance of the object to the person, reverberations in the acoustic field and the list goes on).  Learn to discern and evaluated these different characteristics of sound and you’ll understand the awesome echolocation skills the DareDevil has!