The missing sound – part two

Photo by: fa73

Since I wrote the first post about The missing sound, I have got an e-mail response from Sara Jane Friend McDonald, who is specialist in Orientation & Mobility at the MAB-Mackay Rehabilitation Centre. She gives a lot of good and interesting answers to my wonder about how blind people cross the street. I wonder what the thoughts are about using the “bibbing sound” in Denmark – perhaps it is not necessary to use it as much as we do in Denmark.

Me: “I noticed the other day standing at a traffic light next to a blind person that in Montreal (and perhaps in all of Canada) there is no bibbing sound indicating when you can and can’t cross the road (as there is in Denmark).”

MAB: There is in fact what we call “Audible pedestrian signals” installed at many intersections in Montreal as well as many other cities in Canada. They may not be noticeable to the general public as some models require a special activation in order for them to work. There is an audible pedestrian signal located in front of the MAB-Mackay at 7000 rue Sherbrooke o. for example.

Me: “I read on your webpage that blind people use their dog to figure out when they can cross the street. But why do you not use sound to indicate when you can and can’t cross, so you shouldn’t be dependent of a dog?”

MAB: It is often perceived by the general public that it is the dog guide that is in charge that makes the decision as to when to cross the street. That is NOT true. I am not sure how you received that impression from our website. A dog guide is trained to follow verbal commands from their master, avoid obstacles, stop at stairs or curbs and follow sidewalks, etc. A dog guide is a dog first and dogs do not have the intelligence to be able to understand traffic controls, understand an audible pedestrian signal, nor can they plan routes nor know what bus to take.

So what is actually happening when a dog guide user is crossing the street is; the person is listening to the traffic, analyzing the traffic pattern or waiting to hear the audible pedestrian signal. When the person decides it is safe to cross they then give the dog guide the command “forward” to start crossing the street. While crossing the street, the person is continuing to listen to the flow of traffic to make sure they are crossing in a straight line and the dog guide is going where the person wants to go. The person using the dog guide is in 100% control the entire time.

Me: “Is it a political decision not to use sound?”

MAB: For years Orientation & Mobility Specialists from vision rehabilitation centres in Montreal, users from the RAAMM (Regroupement des aveugles et amblyopes du Montréal métropolitain) and Engineers from the city have been working together to install audible pedestrian signals throughout Montreal. Not all intersections require an audible pedestrian signal as people who are blind and visually impaired are able to analyze traffic flow by listening to the cars and know when it is safe to cross the street.

Audible pedestrian signals are also very expensive and require sometimes a complete rewiring of an intersection. They also need to be installed exactly the right way, which can be difficult and time consuming.

It is also important to point out that Quebec is the only Province or Territory in Canada to directly fund vision rehabilitation services to a general population and all age groups, from infants all the way to senior citizens. The number of vision rehabilitation specialists that work in Quebec surpasses by far the numbers in the rest of Canada.

The missing sound

Photo by: fa73

Something was missing as I stood waiting to cross a side road at Ave Mont Royal. Normally I wouldn’t notice it, but I was reminded by the blind or visually impaired person who stood waiting next to me. She didn’t say anything to me; she just stood there with her dog waiting for the light to change, as did I (even though that apparently is not custom here in Montreal…).

This was when I noticed what was missing. The sound. That bibbing sound you hear everywhere in Denmark, when you cross a road with traffic lights. How does a blind person in Montreal know when to cross the street? I also got me thinking about how difficult it must be to manoeuver in this city as a blind person during the winter, but that is another story.

I wrote an e-mail to the The Montreal Association for the Blind (MAB) so ask them, why the bibbing sound is not used in the city – if it is a political decision or just custom. But they never answered me. That was then…They answered me almost the time as I posted this blogpost – it resulted in The missing sound – part two

I was though able to solve a little bit of the mystery with this information from the frequently asked section on the MAB’s webpage:

Do guide dogs use traffic lights when crossing streets?
No, the decision is based on teamwork. Guide dogs are trained to stop at every curb to indicate to the visually impaired or blind person that the sidewalk has come to an end. The visually impaired or blind person then listens to the flow of traffic to determine when it is safe to cross and gives the guide dog the “forward” command in a suggestive tone. This lets the guide dog know to assess the situation visually, at which point the guide dog will go forward if it is safe, or disregard the command if the situation is not safe (this is called intelligent disobedience).

I my eyes (or ears) it seems much easier and perhaps more safe the rely on a sound that indicates when the light says, “Go!” But then again it’s hard to say, when you have never tried it.

Later that week I went to eat at O.Noir (the restaurant where you eat in the dark). I asked the visually impaired waiter, what he thought of the “missing sound”. It didn’t seem to be something he wondered a lot about, he said that he had heard the sound in some of the suburbs, but that he was not totally blind, so it wasn’t as important to him, as it would be to a totally blind person.

So now I find myself listening if I can hear the missing sound whenever I cross a new street in this city. Blind or not perhaps I the only one wondering about it.