ECHOLOCATION IN BATS

WHAT IS ECHOLOCATION/SONAR?
Echolocation is a technique used by bats, dolphins and other animals to determine the
location of objects using reflected sound. This allows the animals to move around in
pitch darkness, so they can navigate, hunt, identify friends and enemies, and avoid
obstacles.
HOW CAN BATS PRODUCE THIS SOUND?
 Bats make sounds the same way we do, by moving air past their vibrating vocal chords.
Some bats emit the sounds from their mouth, which they hold open as they fly. Others
emit sound through their nose.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ECHOLOCATION/SONAR?
Consistent with the notion that blind individual’s benefit from the use of echolocation,
previous research conducted under controlled experimental conditions has shown that
echolocation improves blind people's spatial sensing ability.
DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WHO ARE VISUALLY IMPAIRED CAN ALSO USE
THIS TECHNIQUE? IF YES, CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW?
Yes. Some people who are blind can echolocate like bats, making clicks with their
mouths that help them understand the environment around them. ... While many
people who are blind get information from ambient echoes, only a few make noises
themselves to echolocate.
CAN YOU CITE SOME OTHER EXAMPLE WHERE SOUND WAVE CAN BE
USED?
For example, some animals and people use reflected ultrasound waves to detect
objects. Some animals, such as bats, use the echoes of ultrasound waves to find food.
People use ultrasound echoes to detect objects underwater or even to produce images
of the inside of the body.