Małgorzata Walkiewicz-Krutak
Niepełnosprawność, Nr 34 (2019), 2019, s. 11 - 25
https://doi.org/10.4467/25439561.NP.19.015.11844Passive and active echolocation as an element of auditory perception and spatial orientation of blind people.
The article describes the phenomenon of using reflected sounds in spatial orientation of blind people according to the division into passive and active echolocation proposed by Tim Johnson (2012). Passive echolocation is based on the use of sounds coming naturally from the environment and their interpretation in the context of environmental characteristics. Active echolocation consists in using a specific sound signal to obtain reflection from objects in the environment. In this study, the echolocation have been described in the context of contemporary research on this phenomenon in Western countries – in terms of both functional and neurophysiological aspect (brain activity when using echolocation). The phenomenon of echolocation was presented in the article as a component of auditory perception. In the consideration of auditory perception, James Gibson’s thesis (1979) was accepted that action and perception complement each other – action (understood as active orientation and independent movement in the environment), combined with the use of senses available to a blind person, first of all hearing, is used to gain knowledge about the environment.