Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Two Heads are Better than one...

From AT&T Corporate Archives:


For Bell Labs, two heads are better than one when it comes to researching the ways people locate the direction of sound. Practical results of the "double dome" research — the improvement of stereophonic radio and TV programs — are transmitted nationwide over telephone facilities. In the experiments, two microphones in the ears of the dummy, "Oscar II," were substituted for human ears. Oscar's head reproduced the "shadowing" of sound by a human head. Persons participating in the tests — such as Mary Lou Hartig, shown — wore the extra head so that motions of their heads would be reproduced, for even very small movements influencing hearing. The natural sounds received in each microphone were altered electronically by acoustics scientist R.L. Hanson, and were delivered to the earphones. Listeners were asked to point to the apparent direction of the altered sound. Normally, the ear that is closer to a sound hears it earlier and louder than the other ear. Murray Hill, N.J., 1961.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Sophia's Cousins at my home & Hearing

This is one experience that I would never forget - and I hope all deaf parents read this:

One day, Sophia invited her 3 cousins into my house. Then my wife had go to store, an now I am in charge of the kids.

Sophia is 2 1/2 years old, LJ is 5 years old, Lindsey is 8 years old, and Larry is 13 years old. I let them go have fun around the house - and then I took off my implants when my wife left. I did that on purpose to prove that I can locate all 4 kids without my hearing. 8 minutes into the test, I gave up ! I was wrong!!!! I can't keep track of all four kids who all are in the different rooms and are either downstairs or upstairs. I had to walk around to look for them and check if they are fine.

I was so stressed out so I gave up. So I put implants back on and the whole sounds came alive in my mind. Now I can hear where they are, what they are doing, and how they are. I did not need to see them visually, since they are talking and making noises so I can tell what is going on. so I just sat down and watched TV without being stressed at all.

I am a true believer in total parental responsibility and that hearing is the most important part of the parenthood.

Blind Man sees world with hearing (Video)

So cool and incredible!!! This is about a young man, who is blind, uses echolocation to see:

http://www.flixxy.com/extraordinary-people-seeing-without-eyes.htm

To tell you truth, I do use echolocation to 'see' the world around me, and getting better over the time.

Dan