Some blind people have a special ability to avoid objects in the vicinity though could not see. They can take advantage of the possibility of echo to "see". Part of the brain that processes visual used to process sound. Thus the results are found by a study by Stephen Arnott of the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto and his colleagues published in the journal PLoS ONE.
Visually impaired people clicking noises with his tongue and use the echoes to determine the positions of obstacles - a similar technique done by bats. This new study looks at the brains of blind people use a technique called "echolocation" is.
The study found that blind people who have the ability to use echoes to have activity in the visual brain while listening to the clicking sound of their own. The study involves two people with visual impairments. "Our data suggest that both use the echo in the same way to see," said the researcher.
Clicking sound is recorded when two blind men near an object. Then, they put in an fMRI scanner. The click is played back and the machine measures the amount of blood flow to various areas of the brain, showing brain activity directly.
As the sound echoes sounded, part of the brain associated with visual active. Uniquely, the visual part of it is just reacting to the echo. When the researchers play the sound without echo, part of the brain is not active. Meanwhile, parts of the brain associated with hearing loss have the same level of activity, independent of the sound is playing.
Arnott admitted more research is needed in a larger scale. "But this study is a preliminary study to understand the brain processes and ability to blend sound and vision," he said.
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