Salt Lake Telegram | 1931-04-17 | Page 6 | Blind Scholar Tells How City "Looks' to one Who Cannot See; Ears Able to Judge Nature of Surroundings

Blind Scholar Tells How City looks looks' To One Who Cannot See Ears Able To Judge Nature of Surroundings i Peculiar Sixth Sense Provides Provides Provides Pro Pro- vides Afflicted With Feeling Feeling Feel Feel- Feeling ing of Altitude B By LORENA HICKOK NEW YORK April 17 P iP Halvdan dan can Karterud a blind bUnd scho scholar ar walked th the streets of New York and told how howa a a. great city looks to a man who cannot sec see A bizarre and confusing babel o of human voices DIces speaking many tongues A ceaseless scream and rumble anc and clang of or metallic mechanical sounds Endless canyons walled in by Immense Im Im- m mense buildings vast buildings vast sound sounding rounding boards whose height his cars ears cannot cannot cannot can can- not measure beyond five stories A sensation of ot going up and up and up in un nn elevator to a a. level lc where the air feels reels thinner about his temples CONFERENCE ENCE DELEGATE Mr Kart Karterud rud one of or Norway's outstanding out out- standing blind teachers is 15 a n. delegate delete dele dele- gate te to the world conference on work for or the blind bUIld now meeting at the Hotel Pennsylvania He has has- been blind since birth I Of Ot the delegates representing 37 nations at the conference about one-fourth one are blind bUnd What the they see in New York ho s. s said ld must be bebout beabout beabout about bout the same as his impression Their eyes are their cars their clever sensitive fingers tha that patiently patiently patiently pa pa- trace again and again the outlines of models of New Yorks York's sky skyscrapers and anet a a. subtle highly de developed developed de- de eloped sensitiveness eness to air pressures which is called obstacle sense a kind of or sixth sense of or the blind NOTICES VOICES We all notice that queer babel of or oI voices and languages first he said You see we blind must learn to guide ourselves about in the streets by listening to the voices of ot those about us That's how we avoid running ruining into people We listen more intently than you do Therefore we arc more conscious of or what people are saying In our own cities clUes we dont don't hear such a 3 mixture of tongues Mr Karterud walked along a 1 across cross ClOSS street that leads Into Fifth avenue past the new Empire State building You see these buildings act as sounding rounding boards he said This is not a very wide street I street I know by bythe bythe bythe the sharpness of the noises I am conscious of ot enormous buildings buildings- not GO too much high as big covering a a. lot of ot space There are so few breaks in the walls They must be at least five stories high for the tho street noises would sound differently if it they weren't weren't- but how much over five stories I couldn't tell PUZZLED AT HEIGHT T THe He paused beside the Ule Empire State building whose metal covered mast gleamed in the sunlight 1252 1253 feet above the sidewalk He shook his hiss 1 head No he said If it you ou had not told me I wouldn't know kno He turned into Fifth Filth avenue Ah this is s a wider street an avenue avenue ave ave- nue he said The sidewalk Is wider I can tell by the sound of ot my footsteps A Avery very wide street I think Still sun huge buildings but not so fiO close together The noises are not so sharp The air feels dIr dif ferent Bigger Bicker stores too perhaps with perhaps with bigger windows More glass I think Not so much masonry Noises sound different against glass Mr Karterud went up into the Chrysler tower toner the day after he landed In New York He bought a amodel amodel amodel model of the building to take home to his pupils We went up and up and md up he said It It probably seemed a lot farther tarther to me than It would to you The air was thinner up there there- lighter against my forehead