How Blind People See With Sound… with @MollyBurkeOfficial!

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I met Molly Burke a few months ago. She’s awesome. I absolutely love what she’s done on YouTube to bring awareness to living with disability, and turning it into ability. And her guide dog Gallop is awesome too! When Molly and I first met, we started talking about how she navigates the world, because I’m a nerd and I always steer the conversation toward science. I was not prepared for what she told me. She said she uses echolocation! Molly’s brain has adapted to listen to sounds in her environment in ways that most of us sighted people can’t even imagine. I went to meet her in LA and brought a special surprise, to see if my brain could learn what hers has.
#echolocation #blind

For audio descriptions, go to Settings - Audio Track - English Descriptive.

Special thanks to Brian Bushway, Daniel Kish, Molly Burke and Gallop!

Descriptive Audio & Captions provided by The Described and Captioned Media Program

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[besmart]

This was a really amazing experience. I learned so much, not only about how blind people experience the world but about how I and all of us view so-called "disability". Thank you so much to Molly for doing this with me. Definitely go check out her channel!

[MollyBurkeOfficial]

This was truly SO fun! I can't wait to work with Bryan more to keep improving my active echolocation skills! I'll definitely be sharing my echolocation journey on my channel, so come hangout with me!
Thanks for doing this with me, Joe!

[TheGhilamonster]

I like how the two blind people will look at each other, out of respect, even though the other cant tell if they are or aren't

[Dabubble]

Molly:"I see blind people skateboarding"

Me: *hol up*

[alwinjoseph]

It’s amazing at 9:27 (it’s so overlooked) how when Joe lifts his hand and misses the bowl, Bryan WHO’S BLIND knows Joe’s mistake and corrects his mistake by moving his hand on the bowl.

[TheTwitch]

9:46
"Let me take my blindfold off so I can experience this."






Joe just flexing on the blind

[goodday]

"Hey, smart people..."
Alright, man- I think you might have me mistaken for somebody else.

[valerielinares]

"But really, a lack of sound still makes noise." That sounds profound on more than one level.

[remen_emperor]

"Sound shadows" is actually something I've been aware of most of my life, but never knew was a special concept until someone came face to face with me while I was napping in highschool. There was the room's general noises, where I was pretty aware of where the groups of people were and vaguely aware of how many individuals were in each one, (something I just liked know for whatever reason), when suddenly the most obvious void of sound popped up directly in front of my face. When I asked what they were doing, they were surprised that I could tell despite having my eyes closed.

A decade later, and I still listen for those voids in the room. Actually, it helps me multitask as hospital security because I can take my eyes off of people that are likely to elope and still know when they stand up or otherwise change... sound shape? The dead zone grows taller when they stand up, or grows wider if they're leaning out of their chair/bed. Much easier on a chair.

In general, I try to rely on my sight as little as possible. First thing I did with my multitool was learn how to access the tool I wanted by feel and memory. I put things down with the intent of taking them even if my eyes are somewhere else. Heck, I have a severe dislike of checking for my wallet by hand, so I just flex my leg to see if I feel its shape.

My point is that even being sighted, I dislike having to rely on the sense entirely. I had never considered honing onto a single, individual sound (type) as my wayfinder. I just kind of listen for the garbled miasma of noises for voids in it. This video has given me something else to practice on!

[JohnPorsbjerg]

and now we're all sitting in front of our computers like idiots making clicking sounds and shushing at our hands

[AmandaBrown-puev]

Hearing about how Molly was taught passive echolocation, helps explain how she is able to grab her drinks pretty easily, or know exactly where the handle of her fridge is, etc.

[WilbertBeltman]

I found it so weird that Molly would sometimes while she was talking, turn to the camera and look right into it, she's very good at knowing where something or someone is its amazing

[Narveloz]

human echolocation work like this.
Mom:
Joe: Yess mooom!!!
Mom: he is in his room
Joe: mom's in the kicthen

they've found each other

[astral]

I can't wait for my mom to see me shh-ing a bowl.

[amirsafari]

i need this skill for when i turn off the light and trying to find my way to bed:)

[matthewmorris]

I like how she’s blind but still closed her eyes to find the bowl 🤣🤣🤣

[jmiles]

Bryan is a real good teacher. Just watching him explain everything makes you learn a lot about active echolocation

[Hidfors]

Awesome timing. I just found out that i'm going to go blind in a few years due to a rare genetic thing. This gave me quite a bit of motivation.

[orlevzach]

Not only interesting, but really important. Thank you all!

[SkyRunner]

It makes me cry to see them looking at each other even though they're blind...
I'm so glad they are able to cope with the world in their own unique way.
Life sure ain't fair but you gotta deal with what you got.
I kiss you blind people and send tons of virtual hugs, I'm so proud of you🤗🤗🤗