may not be the same sensation but when I had the laser surgery on the old eyes , they cut the lens of your eye and peel it back and you are temporarily unable to see ... so for about 30 seconds you could hear people talking ,you could sense them moving and I could smell the burning of the laser but all i saw was just pure white nothingness .. i don't know why i just imagined everything would go black but nope pure white ..maybe that is what it is like for a blind person ?