Are auditory magic tricks possible for a blind audience?

Magic tricks make the impossible seem possible. Magicians have long captivated audiences with visual tricks, such as pulling a bunny from a hat or sawing someone in half, but tricks that rely on sound are scarce. An article published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences on October 4 explores why creating a magical experience using only sound may be challenging and underscores the importance of making magic accessible to people with blindness.

"Given that magic is about the conflict between perceptual processes and our beliefs, we should be able to experience magic in other senses, but it turned out to be really difficult," says corresponding author Gustav Kuhn, an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Plymouth. "If you're born blind, you'll likely never have experienced a magic trick. Why is that? Can we create tricks that could be enjoyed and experienced by people with blindness?" Only a handful of tricks involve other senses, like touch, and virtually none focus solely on auditory perception .

But auditory illusions are everywhere. Stereo sound manipulates audio timing between the ears, creating the illusion of sound coming from different directions. Movies use the Shepard tone, an auditory illusion that gives the impression of an endlessly rising pitch, to build unease and tension that keeps the audience on edge.

So, why are auditory magic tricks rare? The researchers argue that the reason may stem from the fundamental differences between how the brain processe.