Basically, they emit sounds around them and then listen to the returning echo to locate and identify different objects or creatures around them. “Each dolphin click is a pulse of pure sound that becomes modulated by the shape of the object”.
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The image above shows a 2-D representation of the view a dolphin had of a trainer nearby in a tank – but the original data, captured with a device called a CymaScope, was printed in 3-D as well. SpeakDolphin, a scientific research organization dedicated to understanding the way dolphins communicate and perceive the world, has produced some images that simulate what dolphins see when they use echolocation to scan the world around them. It then used photo analysis to estimate when these objects would look like in three dimensions.
Green and Saul then sent the recording to the CymaScope laboratory in the United Kingdom, where yet another colleague, acoustic physics research John Stuart Reid, imprinted the signal onto a water membrane and then computer enhanced the resulting image.
“We’ve been working on dolphin communication for more than a decade”, Jack Kassewitz, research team leader and founder of SpeakDolphin.com, said in a press release.
Dolphins also see with their eyes, but now scientists are able to approach what cetaceans can see with sound, which is why this experiment’s findings are so exciting.
Kassewitz said the study shows that dolphins can at least see the full silhouette of an object with their echolocation sound sense. “Even so, our recent success has left us all speechless”. To avoid added “noise”, the diver, Jim McDonough, swam without a breathing apparatus to make sure no bubbles would adversely affect the results. “Nearly every experiment is bringing us more images with more detail”.
“We were thrilled by the first successful print of a cube by the brilliant team at 3D Systems”, said Kassewitz.
As Amaya approached and directed echolocation beams towards the researcher, other members of the team used high specification audio equipment in order to capture the signal.
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Kassewitz notes that after proving that dolphins actually “see” using echolocation to create “sono-pictorial” images, the next step in the project is to find out if and how dolphins may be sharing these echolocation images as part of a sono-pictorial language.
