Juan Ruiz- Extreme Echolocation Super Human Challenge

My search for superhumans has brought me here, to Hollywood.

But where I'm going is a world away

from the bright lights of the movies,

cos I'm going into the darkness.

It's really dark down here and really creepy.

And if I didn't have my torch I'd probably

bang my head on one of these jagged rocks.

To see down here without any light at all, you'd need some sort

of incredible night vision or the powers of a superhero.

'A superhero like Daredevil!

'Though blind, Daredevil's incredible sonar sense gives him

'powers far beyond sighted people.'

Well, I've heard of a real-life Daredevil!

A blind man who defies science!

A man who uses an ability that we thought

only existed in the animal kingdom.

After losing his sight completely as a child,

American Juan Ruiz did something amazing.

With incredible determination, he set out to teach himself

to see with sound just like bats and dolphins do.

Juan's astonishing ability is way beyond human capabilities,

so is Juan a real-life superhuman?

And here he is. It's a pleasure to meet you.

It's a great pleasure to meet you as well.

Can I turn off this light as ask you to navigate us

out of here?

I had no idea you even had a light.

Because you're completely blind, is that right?

That's correct. I do not see anything at all

because what I have actually done is

I have trained my brain to see by using sound.

That's absolutely incredible.

-I'm going to turn it off now. There we go.

-All right!

-Now you get us out of here.

-Excellent! Follow me.

-OK.

-Juan, you've got me back outside again. That's good news.

-Sure is.

Now what I'd like to do is I'd like to ask you to take part

in three super tests to test your superhuman abilities.

A superhuman versus...

Well, it's me...versus me. You on for that?

Oh, I'm excited! Let's do it!

-OK, let's get started.

-Let's do it.

This is Dr Megan John, she's an expedition doctor

and has kept people alive in some of the most dangerous environments.

She's devised three super tests to discover how Tim

and Juan react differently without their eyesight.

For Super Test One, Dr Megan has brought Tim

and Juan to Los Angeles, California.

It's the home of Hollywood,

where the biggest movies on the planet are made,

and a city where the sun always shines.

But it's fair to say that this test has a real dark side.

So, guys, for my Super Test One,

I've brought you to this real life Hollywood film studio.

-Wow!

-Awesome

I want to see how the two of you manage to navigate your way around

-in complete darkness.

-Oh, that sounds easy!

It's not quite as simple as it seems.

Oh, it never is.

It certainly isn't,

because they'll have to get from one side of this special Hollywood set

to the other in total darkness and without touching any of the props.

Moving around in complete darkness can be extremely dangerous.

Now there aren't any Hollywood super-villains hiding in there,

but any obstacle in the dark can do serious damage

and these props are almost impossible to avoid without sight.

Some are low while others are hanging from the ceiling.

Tim and Juan are at risk of tripping and falling,

so they'll need helmets and padding.

But that's not all Dr Megan is going to ask them to wear.

OK, so, Tim, so when you've put on all your safety equipment,

I'm going to be fitting the two of you with your blindfolds.

Oh, but I have my permanent blindfold on already.

Unfortunately, this is a scientific experiment

so anything I do to Tim, I also need to do the same to you.

All right, that makes sense.

I'm going to be recording three pieces of data. I'll be timing you,

seeing how long it takes you to complete the challenge,

I'll also be recording how many objects you knock into.

And finally, I'm interested in seeing how hard your brain is having to work

to complete this test,

so I'll be fitting the two of you with these special headbands

which will record the electrical waves that your brain sends out.

-Are you both ready to go?

-Yes!

-Yeah! Yeah, let's do it.

-OK.

When you're plunged into total darkness, your first instinct

is to use touch to navigate, so you'll stretch out your arms

to feel for things in front of you. You'll become scared

and disorientated and you'll walk in circles.

Because your eyes help you balance, you'll begin to walk

in a crouching position to be lower to the ground in case you fall.

You could fall or bump into things

and get a nasty cut or bruise yourself on a hard object.

The worst case is that you could hit your head,

and develop concussion and concussion can be fatal.

Because there's no light in the room, we're filming this test

with special cameras that can see in the dark.

OK, Tim, in you go.

OK, Super Test One, find the curtain.

Oh! Oh! That's a funny old thing.

That's, er, obviously an inflatable thing.

Not a good start for Tim who enters the room

and immediately collides with an inflatable column.

Ow! That's something else.

So he's put his arms out and he's feeling his way around

to try and give him some more idea of where he's going.

Going forward now.

Ow! Something else! What was that?

I'm hearing something

Oh, now that's gone.

Because Tim can't see, he's relying more heavily

on his ears picking up sounds from the room around him.

Sound reaches the ears in waves which are channelled inside your ear

by the bit on the outside called the pinna.

Once inside your ear,

the sound waves hit your eardrum, making it vibrate.

These vibrations travel to your inner ear,

which sends signals to the brain.

Your brain then works out what the sound is and where it's coming from.

Sound waves bounce off hard surfaces,

which is why we can hear echoes,

especially in places with hard walls.

So how is Tim getting on without his sight?

There's something there. That's another one of those crazy columns.

He's looking a little bit confused.

That can't be the first column, can it?

He's quite disorientated by this experiment.

Oh, that's something there.

That's a small...foam...cube!

Tim is supposed to be avoiding the obstacles,

but instead he's touching all of them.

What's that?

Ah! That's balloons!

He's also lowering his centre of gravity, spreading his legs out,

to keep himself stable.

Ah, that's a corner. I've hit a corner in the room.

Right, that's not a good sign.

Let's just try and let's try and work this out.

So, Tim's really disorientated,

he's actually quite near the finish point but he's got no idea any more,

so he's kind of walking back into the middle of the room.

I could just be going round in circles.

Your eyesight is extremely important for you to work out

where you are and which direction you're going in.

As you pass objects, your eyes send images to the visual cortex

in your brain, where they are placed on a mental map.

When you turn left or right, your brain uses objects you can see,

to work out how much you've turned.

But without your eyesight, your brain finds it difficult

to tell how far you have turned or whether you have been there before.

Hmm! I wonder if Tim's managed to get his bearings yet?

That's another wall, that's not a curtain.

Ow!

There's that rock again, hang on.

Tim is now back at the start, but will he even notice?

There's another...

Either that's the same rock again or I really am going round in circles.

He's now right back at the beginning where he started from.

Now this is where I came in.

I think he's probably feeling a bit disappointed.

OK, let's try this again. I'm going round the rock...forward.

The longer he goes without hitting an obstacle,

because he knows I've put obstacles in there,

it's almost like the more apprehensive he gets.

There's the ball.

When he reaches an obstacle, particularly one he's seen before,

his brainwave activity does go a bit lower.

The longer Tim's in the room,

the more this becomes an experiment about how good his memory is,

rather than how good he is at using his senses.

Oh, wow! That's a tree. I've not found that before.

You can see that as soon as that happened,

brainwave activity went up.

As soon as he knows it's a safe thing that's not going to hurt him,

it relaxes back down again.

TIM EXHALES

Oh, that's new as well.

That's a fairly solid object.

When he hit the rock, there as a peak in brainwave activity.

He's reached a road sign, there was another peak.

OK, so this is an area we've not been in before.

He doesn't realise it, but the finish is just one step to his left now.

That's a curtain!

He's just hit the end, so I'm just going to get him out.

Now is that a different curtain?

Tim, it's the right curtain!

-It's the right curtain!

-It's the right curtain!

I've made it! I've found the curtain.

-You've made it!

-How exciting is that?!

I think I went round in circles a lot.

-I'm going to take your blindfold off, OK?

-OK.

Now the bright lights will be a bit much for you to get used to.

Might have to take a second on that.

-Keep your eyes closed for a second.

-Ow!

That's not very nice.

Oh, wow! That's really bright, isn't it?

Oh-h!

Oh, I'm there. There we go, I can see you now.

Tim did indeed walk around in circles.

He took seven minutes to cross the room and touched 30 objects.

'Oh, that's new as well!'

The results of Megan's mind-band showed that Tim found

the whole experience challenging and disorientating.

Juan is up next.

Will he be able to use his amazing abilities

to complete this challenge?

OK, in you go!

All right, well, I know two things about what I'm about to do,

and that is I'm going through one curtain

and then coming out on the other end through another curtain.

Immediately Juan starts making a clicking noise.

And, incredibly, ducks under a lampshade

as if he could see it, but he can't!

Is this noise something to do with Juan's Super Human skills?

Now remember, Juan hasn't even seen any of these obstacles either.

Tim was frightened that the obstacles were going to hurt him.

Juan's walking around quite quickly

That doesn't sound like a curtain!

Juan cannot see the wall and has not touched it,

yet he knows it's not a curtain.

How is he doing this?

You'll notice that the most obvious difference between his approach

and Tim's is that Tim immediately put his hands up to protect himself.

Juan's got his hands down by his side and is very relaxed.

Fine, fine, fine...

He's just made the curtain, I'm going to go and get him out.

Juan completed Super Test One in an incredible 1 minute 50 seconds

and touched only one object.

Remember, it took Tim five minutes longer and he touched 30 objects.

Juan's mindband results show that he found this ridiculously easy.

So how is he doing it?

When you stepped into the room you paused for a moment

and started making these funny noises. What was that?

I was clicking, I was making a click sound, just...

CLICKS

..so that I could get my orientation

because that click bounces off the walls

that are all over the room so that I get the dimensions of the room.

What Juan is describing is something called echolocation

and it's a way of using sound waves to see

just as bats and dolphins do.

When you make a noise, the sound waves come out of your mouth

and spread all around you.

They hit objects and are bounced back to your ears.

Like this - these are called echoes.

Your brain usually ignores the echoes from your own voice,

but Juan's brain is different.

Juan has learnt to use echoes from his clicking noise

to work out where objects are and what shape they are.

Every click allows Juan to see an object with his ears

but only while the echo lasts.

Being in the dark for even ten minutes really affected my eyes.

So imagine how your eyes would cope after months in the darkness.

Tragedy struck 33 miners in Chile, when a tunnel collapsed,

trapping them 700 metres underground.

They were sent food and water so they could survive,

but living in constant darkness can make you feel very depressed.

The miners needed to keep to a daily routine so they knew

when to go to bed and when to get up without sunlight.

They also sang songs to keep their spirits up.

After two months, rescue teams were able to lift them out.

The miners wore sunglasses for several days afterwards

to protect their eyes while they adjusted to the daylight.

For the second Super Test, Dr Megan has taken Tim and Juan

out of Hollywood down to one of the busiest piers in the world

at Santa Monica.

For my Super Test Two,

I want to study Juan's echolocating abilities still further.

So I want to see if the two of you can identify objects

when you go past them just by using the way they reflect soundwaves.

And I want to see how you do that in a real live situation.

In this Super Test, Juan and Tim will have

to correctly identify five objects on the pier

and once again they will be blindfolded.

These objects will be big, small, hard and soft.

So Tim is going to need some help.

Go ahead and click.

That's really gone

and it's not just because it's down below, I can really...

It's gone, it's not there.

It's not at the face level where it's at now.

The sound is not bouncing directly off of it.

When you are clicking, you really can feel

that there's something coming back at you but when it's not there,

I know there's nothing coming back at me

Tim's beginning to get the hang of it

but there is still a great danger that he will get a nasty bump

from a hard object. There's enough noise and bustle out there

to really confuse him.

From Super Test One, I saw how incredible, Juan,

your ability to avoid bumping into things was,

so I don't think you need to do this test in protective gear.

Tim. You on the other hand - full safety equipment.

OK.

We've asked Tim and Juan to identify exactly the same objects

along one of the busiest piers in the world,

just from the way they sound. Tim is up first.

Stop where you are. OK, now slightly to your right

is the object I'd like you to try and identify.

Yeah, that's there.

I've touched that with my elbow.

Unable to find the position quick enough,

Tim has touched the bin before he's even clicked.

Tim will not be allowed to guess this one.

Normally, to identify an object you'd use sight.

As well as that you'd use your other senses - smell, touch and hearing.

I've taken away his sight which is the easiest one to use,

so Tim's exhibiting exactly what I would expect

a normal human reaction to be.

To try to utilise all the other senses.

He can't help but put his hands out

to use feel and touch to give him an idea.

Who can blame him? Touch is one of our most important senses after all.

Your skin is covered in nerve cells called receptors

that send messages to your brain

whenever your skin touches something.

There are three types of receptors.

Some for temperature, some for pressure and some for pain.

When you touch an object with your fingers,

your pressure sensors can help you decide if is hard or soft

and what shape it is.

Your temperature sensors tell you if the object is hot or cold.

This is how you can tell what things are made of.

Now it's time for Juan's go at the bin.

Even though he is totally blind,

Juan has agreed to wear the blindfold again,

just to keep the test the same for him and Tim.

Oh, my gosh. All right so let's listen to this thing,

see what it is.

Ooh, wow.

Juan immediately finds the object

while it is still almost half a metre away from him.

When Tim was doing this, he was exhibiting exactly

what I'd expect a human to do to.

Putting his hands out, he couldn't help himself

but try to use some touch.

A trash can!

Ah!

It's nice and round and it's got the height of...

A trash can?

A trash can, exactly!

Really impressive, sir.

Next challenge - a vendor's booth selling t-shirts.

I've hit something with my head and that's probably not a good sign.

Once again Tim has collided with the object before finding it

with his clicks.

This doesn't seem as solid.

Juan's told us that not only can he orientate how large an echo is

using his echolocation techniques, but the density.

That is, how hard it is or how soft it is

changes the way the sound wave is reflected back

OK, that's the other edge. So there's edges here.

Oh no, maybe.

It's difficult because it seems to be... The sound isn't...

OK, Tim, let's move on now from this one.

Tim didn't manage to identify this one either.

How will Juan deal with such a large soft object?

OK, stop there.

Yes I hear it, so let's see. Let's study this obstacle.

Well, it's taller than me

but that's not too hard because I'm rather short.

This time Juan hears the object while he is over a metre away.

So straight away before I positioned him near it he said,

"Oh, yeah. I hear it."

Now, it's not making any noise, it's him hearing back those clicks.

See, this object is interesting because it's not very solid.

Different objects reflect sound waves in different ways.

If you were to tap on a box,

you could tell if it was hollow or solid,

or if it was made of metal or wood simply by the sound it made.

Amazingly, Juan's brain is able to do this just by using

the echoes of his click.

Juan's brain detects how the sound in the echo has changed

to work out what the objects are made of.

Hard objects reflect more sound than soft objects

and Juan's brain can detect the tiniest changes.

I would... You know, I would have to say this is a vendor's booth.

Amazing!

Juan is of course completely right, again.

About a foot in front of you is the next object I'd like you to identify.

Because Tim can't see, he is finding it hard to judge how far away

the objects are in this test.

Will he be able to avoid touching this one?

CLICKS

Now of course you have touched it a few times so.

Yeah, I can feel that there is something like, like leaves.

Maybe like plastic crazy foliage.

I don't know how to do this so my ability to get where,

how close it is, is quite difficult

so sometimes I nudge the object when I don't mean to.

Like I've just done it there.

And of course if you nudge the object you get...

I get some information about it.

Step forward. Again, again, again. And stop there.

It's just about 30 centimetres in front.

Let's see.

It sounds like a bush.

Right, Juan, you have made my test look too easy!

The next object is a fire hydrant

and Tim has found it with his stick.

There's something there.

But can he work out what it is with his click?

CLICKS

His hands are all over it. He can't help it!

He won't prove anything in this test, even if he guesses what it is.

Some sort of post.

Time for Juan to try - remember, he uses just his hearing

and he doesn't touch the object so it's a little trickier for him.

Oh, wow!

I would say this is a chair.

OK, so about the height of a chair. Right, well.

It's not just the height, because the height comes up to about here.

But then there's something here that is more flat

and then the back goes up.

OK, all right.

So I think it's a chair.

Because Juan uses sound waves to create an image,

he thinks that the barrier behind the post and the box next to it

are all part of the same thing,

which does actually resemble the shape of a chair.

So I think we can let him off with this one.

Time for the next object.

This is really interesting,

cos although it's right in front of him, he's moved to the side.

I'm not sure he's got any idea of that.

Tim's shoulder has just touched the lamp post.

He's not going to be allowed to guess this one either now.

Juan's go next, but will the shape of the railing put him off again?

Well, it's very thin,

and it's right next to the railing right here.

But I can put my hands straight through here right behind it.

When Tim was putting things forward he was just touching everything.

Juan was able to demonstrate beautifully without touching a thing.

I would say it's something like a light pole.

I just have no idea but I'll say a light pole.

You have no idea but you're guessing a lamp post?

It's some type of pole.

Juan has guessed correctly an incredible four out of five objects

on Santa Monica Pier using only sound.

It sounds like a bush.

And although Tim made a great attempt,

he couldn't get over his instinct to touch.

His hands just got in the way, as did his mouth.

I was amazed at how well Juan moved about on the pier without sight.

But there are some people who spend their whole lives

in a dark environment.

The Penan people live in the rainforests of Malaysia

in South East Asia.

The giant trees have very thick top branches and leaves

which block out the

sun, so the forest is very dark even during the day.

But the tribe are perfectly adapted to finding their way around

so they don't get lost.

They can even hunt animals in the dark, the lack of light

and noise helps them track their prey more easily.

Their senses can detect even the smallest changes in light,

sound, smell and temperature of the forest which outsiders can't.

Doctor Megan's Super Test Three is taking place

in Irvine Park, California.

And it's going to be one of the most dangerous Super Tests yet.

Juan has told me he can do something absolutely incredible.

He can mountain bike without sight.

Wow, that's unreal. That's absolutely incredible.

-Completely terrifying.

-It's exhilarating for sure.

Mountain biking is all about riding tough bikes

over even tougher terrain.

It requires endurance, strength and balance.

Risk of injury from falls and collisions is high

in the sport of mountain biking

from minor wounds to serious damage to the head and spine.

Even sighted mountain biking can be very dangerous.

If you were to fall off you could cut yourself, break bones,

even knock yourselves out.

So I've had to take a lot of safety precautions today.

I've got Robin, an expert mountain biker who'll be leading

your way down the trail.

I've got Corrie with all her medical equipment and expertise on standby.

And Tim, because you've not done this before,

-I'm going to ask you to practise away from the trail first.

-OK.

-So, guys, let's give it a go.

-Let's go!

Worried that Tim will seriously injure himself,

Dr Megan asks two members of the film crew to run alongside him.

But even with a team of people helping,

Tim almost collides with a tree.

I don't think it would be safe for Tim to do the trail course

-that we've set up for you.

-It doesn't sound like it.

-It seems like he'll need a lot more practice.

-I agree.

This super test is just too dangerous for Tim to try

so it looks like Juan will be doing it on his own!

In this test, Juan will be cycling blindfolded for 1 km

along the twists, turns and steep drops of this mountain forest track.

Using his ears, he will be following the bike in front

which will be making a loud clicking sound.

Remember, Juan is totally blind,

so the blindfold makes no difference to him.

It's simply being worn to keep him under test conditions.

Cycling blindfolded, downhill is incredibly dangerous.

Actually, totally impossible.

Let's face it - you will come off your bike.

When this happens you could cut or bruise yourself.

You could even break a bone. If you hit a tree at speed,

you could break your neck or back,

or you might fall off a steep slope and crack your head on a rock.

Serious head injuries are fatal.

OK, so here we are at the start line.

It's a really tricky course. I can't wait to see how you get on.

-Are you ready to go?

-Ready.

Off you of go.

Let's go!

Juan sets off down the hazardous track completely blind.

For a sighted person,

even attempting this blindfolded would be unthinkable.

Although he is listening out for the lead bike,

he is still using his own click to help him navigate the course.

Juan takes the first corner with ease.

But remember this is just the first of many corners and dips.

This course could be lethal.

As Juan begins to pick up speed,

it's hard to believe that he cannot see anything.

He is doing this incredible feat using only his hearing.

As he approaches a hairpin bend,

Juan almost comes off the track

but he quickly recovers.

What Juan is doing would be too dangerous for someone

without his skill and experience to try. This is incredible!

Another tight corner and Juan takes it with ease.

Watching how effortlessly Juan does this,

it's hard to believe that he can't see.

This road may be straight

but there's a serious drop to Juan's right!

He's on the home straight now and Dr Megan and Tim

are waiting to cheer him over the finish line.

-Wow, that's amazing!

-Congratulations!

Juan has finished this course in just over three minutes,

making his average speed a very impressive 20 kilometres an hour.

Juan Ruiz can identify the world around him by seeing with sound.

Incredibly, he does this even in the most extreme conditions.

There's no doubt he IS Super Human.

That was simply amazing, what you just did.

You've developed your hearing to Super Human levels

with what you do with it.

I came here to meet a real-life Daredevil.

I've met him. It's you.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd