To Overcome

Humanity is known for its ability to adapt to challenges and to rise above any obstacle. Limitations have pushed us to reach new heights. Doubts have forced us to challenge the norms and create new standards. Vision has always been defined by the haves and the have-nots. Individuals that lack the ability to see have always been viewed as handicapped, and thus were not considered to be able to complete the same tasks that the rest of the society can. But just like in the nature of Humanity, people are driven to prove others wrong and accomplish more. 

Dan Guilbeault was diagnosed with a tumor in his Optic Glioma that cost him his vision. He no longer could play the sports he loved and was told about everything he could not do. Then he learned about tennis for the visually impaired. Initially, he was doubtful but soon learned that it was possible. Tennis was adjusted to include a larger tennis ball filled with bells that rattle upon contact, a smaller court, a lower net, and rackets with larger heads. The players rely on their ears to detect the ball.

This sport is based on our capacity to localize sound. Raymond H. Dye Jr. talked about this process. In essence, this is based on the use of our ears and an understanding of the nature of the acoustic cues for sound localization. The key to this whole system is having the ears on opposite sides of the head.

The distance between the two ears creates a path that the sound has to travel that creates a time difference in stimulus hitting the ear based on the location of the sound. As a result, the sound can reach one ear before it reaches the other. And be able to locate the ball

References

Dye, Raymond H., Jr., Mark A. Stellmack, and Noah F. Jurcin. "Observer Weighting Strategies in Interaural Time-difference Discrimination and Monaural Level Discrimination for a Multi-tone Complex." (2005): 1-12. Web. 9 Dec. 2012.

Lin, Thomas. "Hitting the Court, With an Ear on the Ball." The New York Times, 4 June 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.