Seven-year-old Lucas Murray is a real-life version of the superhero Daredevil.  Both Lucas and Matt Murdoch, the real identity of the fictional Marvel Comics superhero, are blind.  Like Daredevil, Lucas has learned how to use sound waves to navigate his environment.  Simply put, Lucas clicks his tongue, listens to the sound echo off nearby objects, and either travels to or avoids them based on the sound.  Lucas is so accurate he is able to play basketball using his tongue-clicking system!

The system, called echolocation, was pioneered by Daniel Kish, founder of the charity World Access for the Blind, and is the same method Daredevil uses to navigate New York in the comic books, and how real-world bats navigate through caves and the night to hunt insects.  The best thing is that it only took Lucas three days to pick up how the system works, and since then, he has perfected it with uncanny accuracy.

I wonder why more blind people don’t learn this technique.  Maybe they do, and they combine it with the tapping of their white canes when they walk?  I always assumed their uncanny hearing played a part in their daily life, but I never knew it was so strong as to guide them through unfamiliar environments just through sound alone!

Tags: echolocation, Lucas Murray, real-life Daredevil, blind boy uses sound to move, navigation, blindness, unusual health news, Daniel Kish, World Access for the Blind, Poole, Dorset, England

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