Human echolocation for spies. What sound to use?
There are reports of blind people being able to develop an echolocation ability, by listening to the echo of sounds emitted by them.
Since this ability is pretty handy for spies and soldiers, the army of a middle-age kingdom has trained some non-blind specialists to use this ability while moving in dark environments without the need of using a light source.
Of couse moving in the dark in a castle or in a town while shouting is not that smart if you want to stay hidden.
What is a sound which can be used, and how could the specialist produce it?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/75797. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Your own question, a prior answer, and a comment collective already give us several parameters:
- The human body must be able to produce the sound.
- The sound must not attract the notice of others.
- The sound must produce an echo that can be used to interpret the surroundings.
I believe the solution is bird songs.
It takes practice, but many people have been able to produce very realistic mimicry of a wide variety of common backyard birds. That last part is essential, as when someone hears such a sound, he should assume the sound is coming from something that commonly visits his yard, not from an enemy performing surveillance on him. Finally, again with a lot of practice, the high-pitched warbling tones should reliably rebound to the ear, allowing you to determine approximate size and shape of nearby obstacles.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/75804. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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