a blinds man dream

Something i was thinking about today...i actually heard the idea originally on a radio program i was listening to today and the thought kinda stuck with me

anyways, its real simple

blind people dream, thats a given, but when we dream we SEE things in our dreams, you know what i mean...like the real vivid and lucid dreams and very realistic like we're actually there seeing out of our eyes. you get the idea

so when a blind person dreams...what, exactly do they see? i'm talking someone who was born blind..i'm sure those who have gone blind over time or lost their sight due to some sort of accident still "see" when they dream..but what about those who have never seen a ray of light in their lives...what do they see when they sleep at night?

feel free to posts any ideas you might have or if any tests or research orsomething have actually been done feel free to post some of that information too, if you know of any

i don't even know where to begin...

Presuming we're talking about people born blind, it might be that they dream without the visuals, same as when they are awake without the visuals. The dreams would take place with only touch, smell and audio. BUT, if they do see images when dreaming, do they see them in black and white or colour?
I'd bet someone here knows someone who's blind, it would be excellent if they could ask.

I spent a substantial part of my youth with blind students (some born blind), and I do remember asking this question. The answer was similar to what Corum said; dreams are perceived much like daily interactions, in the form of everything but visual input.

I'm under the impression, though, that things were seen, although the viewer couldn't 'describe' these images without associating them with physical objects. It's similar to a Flatlander describing a sphere, using language that can't describe depth.

reply to post by Roland Deschain


I have a neighbor who has been blind from birth that I read to.

I asked her once about dreams. She did not describe seeing things, but did talk about hearing in her dreams. She did not go into a lot of detail, but one odd thing she did mention is that she counts steps while in her dreams. She counts steps to get around her house. She never did tell me where she is trying to get to in her dreams, but I found this interesting. Next time I go to visit her, I will ask again.

Ive heard before that when blind people dream, they dream in sound. no visual images. I dont know this for sure but the other posts seem to confirm this.

I could imagine audio would play a huge part in a blind mans dreams

i'm sure all the other senses are greatly increased too, as they are for most blind people in real life

probably intense scents and feelings to the touch

very interesting...

Imagine being blind from birth and never knowing exactly what humans look like? Like not knowing how beautiful some women can be or not knowing our features. For all we know they would think we are some weird colored aliens thing but it would be normal to them.
One of the best topics in a while on here . really makes u sit and think.

I remember reading a book awhile ago (Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain) and if we are to believe what they wrote in it (it seemed legit), Soviet scientists have done extensive research in visual perception and acuity of people and discovered that apparently we do not need eyes to see.

Some people were able to use their ears, fingers, nose and even parts of the skin surface to create images in their mind of the surroundings. If I recall correctly they were able to actually identify colours not just shapes, and as you know we have to different kind of dedicated photoreceptors in the eyes (rods and cones, the later being the colour detectors, but less numerous than rods) so it's a big deal when you can use other body parts that are not really meant to serve that purpose.

Anyways, it is interesting to actually hear what real blind people have to say about it and it would be even more interesting if they would try some of those experiments or commence training of what Soviet scientists did back in the 60s and 70s in order to gain those extra abilities.