With an audio sight an archer can shoot without seeing the target
1 study · 6 archers measured
The summary today
There is a single study, small and set up as the development of a device. A 34 gram magnetic sensor mounted on the bow reads azimuth and elevation and turns them into sound in headphones: the side of the target in the right or left ear, with a pulse rate that changes over 64 levels, and up or down with just two tones. Six trained, sighted university archers, blindfolded, scored 58% at 10 m of what they scored with their eyes open, using a 16 lb bow and six arrows per condition. They held up better on up-down, 77%, than on left-right, 64%, even though up-down had only two tones: the authors put this down to the good postural stability of a trained archer. So it is possible to shoot by ear and hit the target, but the limits are serious: no blind archer was tested, there is no blindfolded trial without the sound, which would show how much the device really helps, and the percentages are ratios between means of six arrows, with no statistics.
Also phrased as: "acoustic sight"; "shooting with eyes closed"; "archery for blind archers"; "aiming by sound"; "electronic audio sight"
In practice
In archery for blind archers the aim is taken with a tactile reference resting against the bow hand and with directions from an assistant, and electronic sights that guide the archer by sound have been talked about for some time.
Evidence
-
2013
For Archers Published later
6 male university archers, sighted and trained, blindfolded, using a magnetic-sensor audio sight: 6 arrows per condition plus 12 practice arrows, 16 lb bow, aluminium arrows, 80 cm face at 10 m indoors. The mean blindfolded score is 58% of the eyes-open score on the full target. There is no blindfolded trial without the device.
Archery sight-system by magnetic sensors for visually impaired persons · Takuya Sasayama, Ikuo Oka, Shingo Ata, Thi Thi Zin, Hitoshi Watanabe, Hiroshi Sasano
-
2013
Context Archers Published later
Ratio of blindfolded to sighted score: 77% on the target scoring only up-down and 64% on the one scoring only left-right, even though elevation is coded with just two tones (2450 Hz up, 1634 Hz down) and azimuth with 64 pulse-rate levels, from about 0.3 to 20 Hz, in the ear on the relevant side. The sensor on the bow measures 90 × 75 × 14 mm and weighs 34 g with two SR44 cells, the receiver 130 g; battery life about 2 hours, all connections wireless.
Archery sight-system by magnetic sensors for visually impaired persons · Takuya Sasayama, Ikuo Oka, Shingo Ata, Thi Thi Zin, Hitoshi Watanabe, Hiroshi Sasano
Status history
- 2013 Reported The only study comes out: six trained university archers, blindfolded, with a magnetic-sensor sight that turns direction into sound, score 58% at 10 m of what they score with their eyes open, and do better on up-down, 77%, than on left-right, 64%, despite having only two tones for up-down against 64 levels. The sensor weighs 34 grams and lasts about two hours, so it sits on the bow without weighing it down. Six arrows per condition, sighted archers and no blindfolded trial without sound: the supporting evidence is there and it is limited.
Related
Related articles
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). With an audio sight an archer can shoot without seeing the target (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/audio-sight-shooting-without-sight
@misc{campagna2026_mirinosonorosenzavista,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {With an audio sight an archer can shoot without seeing the target},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/audio-sight-shooting-without-sight},
note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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