Warning In The Dark (1958)

the Austrian hero here at University of Innsbruck the staff of The Institute of experimental psychology is exploring the frontiers of perception Professor Theodore Arizona the director of The Institute and his colleague Dr Evo Kohler are investigating the so-called sense of obstacles or sixth sense at the blind people's home the time is midday the residents are on their way to the dining room this is Anton Berthold who has been blind since infancy he exhibits an excellent sense of obstacles that is the ability to perceive objects without using the senses of touch or smell and without the objects themselves giving away their presence by smell temperature or sound on the way to the psychological Institute of the University a path not known to the blind man we witness further examples of the obstacle sense but there are limits to the sense he can feel the end of the wall but not the wire mesh gate objects near the ground level are not noticed soft objects including human beings are also difficult to notice perhaps the tobacco smoke has given him the hint a quickly improvised experiment with a negative result narrow stick-like things give the most trouble also stairs which however are recognized by our subject when they lead upwards Professor aresman asks Mr bear told we have just seen what you can do would you tell us now what you actually experience when you feel an obstacle in advance what warns you of the danger of collision they're told answers well I have a feeling around my forehead to begin with it is only slight as if I were running into a spider's web or a fine Veil which is suddenly thrown over my head if in spite of this I go on it becomes stronger almost like a nightmare sometimes I feel it in front of me around my forehead or from the side around my brow or further up my head and I react accordingly but unfortunately I don't notice everything Mr bear told believes he is warned by skin Sensations this information provides the basis for the first experiment insulating his skin substances that protect from heat rays and UltraViolets are mixed with a flower paste and smeared thickly over the bandages as an insulating layer electric fields are rendered ineffective by metal foil the oxygen mask isolates nose and mouth from the outside world the floor vibrates and could indicate the distance from the wall to eliminate vibration effect the subject should be isolated from the floor now all spots where bear told said he felt skin Sensations are hermetically sealed off stimulants of smell and taste are also cut off in spite of all this the sense of obstacles still functions unhindered but the next experiment in which the ears are blocked off immediately takes away the subject's Keen perception earphones emitting strong noise eliminate Hearing in another way when the earphones are removed very much smaller surfaces can be observed it may be that the earphones with their disturbing noise simply diverted the subject's attention so a stronger diversion is added pain and finally a pseudophone is used which crosses over the paths of sound to the ears there is no more doubt that the ear plays the main role but in what way to investigate this point the ear is replaced by a microphone perception by an amplifier connected to a measuring device the sound level in the room is made constant by an independent loudspeaker every object appearing in front of the artificial blind man is immediately registered by it the object Alters the sound waves always present in Space by reflecting them from its surfaces it is this kind of change in tone that alerts a blind person such tone changes can be produced electronically as we see here Dr Kohler is creating the sensation of a wall by changing the tone mercstall even has the familiar skin Sensations but where do these skin Sensations come from it is the anticipation of the blow which causes the skin Sensations on Dr Kohler's face even though there is no direct physical contact with the blind sound replaces sight but the result is the same anticipation leading to skin Sensations because the obstacle sense is based on hearing and uses the echo of everyday normal noises it is therefore possible to improve the sense by using a portable source of constant sound this refined device does not replace the natural obstacle sense but is used to develop and intensify it this blind woman's obstacle sense was completely undeveloped she constantly collided with objects in her path with this new device theory has been put into practice and she is now an advanced student in the obstacle sense school at Innsbruck Austria