sound travel echolocation

Northern right whale dolphins swim just under the surface near British Columbia, Canada. Echolocation is a logical strategy in the ocean, where sound travels five times faster than in air.

Echolocation is nature’s built-in sonar. Here’s how it works.

From beluga whales to bats and even to humans, many animals make sounds that bounce back from objects to help with navigation and hunting.

Nature’s own sonar system, echolocation occurs when an animal emits a sound wave that bounces off an object, returning an echo that provides information about the object’s distance and size.

Over a thousand species echolocate, including most bats , all toothed whales, and small mammals. Many are nocturnal, burrowing, and ocean-dwelling animals that rely on echolocation to find food in an environment with little to no light. Animals have several methods for echolocation, from vibrating their throats to flapping their wings.

Nocturnal oilbirds and some swiftlets , some of which hunt in dark cave environments, “produce short clicks with their syrinx, the vocal organ of birds,” Kate Allen , a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychological and Brain Studies at John Hopkins University, says by email.

Some people can also echolocate by clicking their tongues, a behavior shared by only a few other animals, including tenrecs , a shrew-like animal from Madagascar, and the Vietnamese pygmy dormouse, which is effectively blind.

Bat signals

Bats are the ultimate poster animal for echolocation, using their built-in sonar to pursue fast-flying prey at night.

Most bats, such as the tiny Daubenton’s bat , contract their larynx muscles to make sounds above the range of human hearing—the batty equivalent of a shout, Allen says. (Related: When it comes to echolocation, some bats just wing it .)

Bat calls vary wildly among species, allowing them to distinguish their voices among other bats in the neighborhood. Their calls are also specific to a particular environment and prey type: The European bat “whispers” in the presence of moths to avoid detection .

Some moths, though, have evolved their own defenses against echolocating bats. The tiger moth flexes the tymbal organ on either side of its thorax to produce clicks, which jams bat sonar and keeps the predators at bay.

As expert echolocators, some bats can zero in on objects as small as 0.007 inch, about the width of a human hair . Because insects are always on the move, bats have to click continuously, sometimes making 190 calls a second . Even with such difficult quarry, the predators can still eat half their weight in insects each night .

Leaf-nosed bats make echolocation calls through their large, intricately folded noses, which helps focus sounds that bounces back. Some species can also rapidly change their ear shape to accurately pick up incoming signals .

A few fruit bats, such as the South Asian lesser dawn bat, even make clicks by flapping their wings , a recent discovery.

Ocean soundwaves

Echolocation is a logical strategy in the ocean , where sound travels five times faster than in air.

Dolphins and other toothed whales, such as the beluga , echolocate via a specialized organ called the dorsal bursae, which sits at the top of their head, close to the blowhole. ( Read how whales have a “sonar beam” for targeting prey .)

A fat deposit in this area, called the melon, decreases impedance, or resistance to soundwaves, between the dolphin’s body and the water, making the sound clearer, says Wu-Jung Lee, a senior oceanographer at the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory.

Another fat deposit, stretching from a whale’s lower jaw up to its ear, clarifies the echo that returns from prey, such as fish or squid.

Harbor porpoises , a favorite prey of orcas , make extremely speedy, high-frequency echolocation clicks that their predators can’t hear, allowing them to remain incognito.

Most marine mammal echolocation sounds are too high for humans to hear, with the exception of sperm whales, orcas, and some dolphin species, Lee adds.

Navigating by sound

In addition to hunting or self-defense, some animals echolocate to navigate through their habitats.

For instance, big brown bats, which are widespread throughout the Americas, use their sonar to weave their way through noisy environments, such as forests abuzz with other animal calls.

Amazon river dolphins may also echolocate to move around tree branches and other obstacles created by seasonal flooding, Lee says.

Most humans who echolocate are blind or vision-impaired and use the skill to go about their daily activities. Some make clicks, either with their tongues or an object, like a cane, and then navigate via the resulting echo. Brain scans of echolocating humans show the part of the brain that processes vision is employed during this process. ( Read how blind people use sonar .)

“Brains don’t like undeveloped real estate,” Allen says, so “it’s too metabolically expensive to maintain” echolocation in people who don’t need it.

Even so, humans are remarkably adaptable, and research shows that, with patience, we can teach ourselves to echolocate .

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Echolocation is nature’s built-in sonar. Here’s how it works.

From beluga whales to bats and even to humans, many animals make sounds that bounce back from objects to help with navigation and hunting..

Nature’s own sonar system, echolocation occurs when an animal emits a sound wave that bounces off an object, returning an echo that provides information about the object’s distance and size.

Over a thousand species echolocate, including most bats , all toothed whales, and small mammals. Many are nocturnal, burrowing, and ocean-dwelling animals that rely on echolocation to find food in an environment with little to no light. Animals have several methods for echolocation, from vibrating their throats to flapping their wings.

Nocturnal oilbirds and some swiftlets , some of which hunt in dark cave environments, “produce short clicks with their syrinx, the vocal organ of birds,” Kate Allen , a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychological and Brain Studies at John Hopkins University, says by email.

Some people can also echolocate by clicking their tongues, a behaviour shared by only a few other animals, including tenrecs , a shrew-like animal from Madagascar, and the Vietnamese pygmy dormouse, which is effectively blind.

Bat signals

Bats are the ultimate poster animal for echolocation, using their built-in sonar to pursue fast-flying prey at night.

Most bats, such as the tiny Daubenton’s bat , contract their larynx muscles to make sounds above the range of human hearing—the batty equivalent of a shout, Allen says. (Related: When it comes to echolocation, some bats just wing it .)

Bat calls vary wildly among species, allowing them to distinguish their voices among other bats in the neighbourhood. Their calls are also specific to a particular environment and prey type: The European bat “whispers” in the presence of moths to avoid detection .

Some moths, though, have evolved their own defences against echolocating bats. The tiger moth flexes the tymbal organ on either side of its thorax to produce clicks, which jams bat sonar and keeps the predators at bay.

As expert echolocators, some bats can zero in on objects as small as 0.007 inch, about the width of a human hair . Because insects are always on the move, bats have to click continuously, sometimes making 190 calls a second . Even with such difficult quarry, the predators can still eat half their weight in insects each night .

Leaf-nosed bats make echolocation calls through their large, intricately folded noses, which helps focus sounds that bounces back. Some species can also rapidly change their ear shape to accurately pick up incoming signals .

A few fruit bats, such as the South Asian lesser dawn bat, even make clicks by flapping their wings , a recent discovery.

Ocean soundwaves

Echolocation is a logical strategy in the ocean , where sound travels five times faster than in air.

Dolphins and other toothed whales, such as the beluga , echolocate via a specialised organ called the dorsal bursae, which sits at the top of their head, close to the blowhole. ( Read how whales have a “sonar beam” for targeting prey .)

A fat deposit in this area, called the melon, decreases impedance, or resistance to soundwaves, between the dolphin’s body and the water, making the sound clearer, says Wu-Jung Lee, a senior oceanographer at the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory.

Another fat deposit, stretching from a whale’s lower jaw up to its ear, clarifies the echo that returns from prey, such as fish or squid.

Harbour porpoises , a favourite prey of orcas , make extremely speedy, high-frequency echolocation clicks that their predators can’t hear, allowing them to remain incognito.

Most marine mammal echolocation sounds are too high for humans to hear, with the exception of sperm whales, orcas, and some dolphin species, Lee adds.

Navigating by sound

In addition to hunting or self-defence, some animals echolocate to navigate through their habitats.

For instance, big brown bats, which are widespread throughout the Americas, use their sonar to weave their way through noisy environments, such as forests abuzz with other animal calls.

Amazon river dolphins may also echolocate to move around tree branches and other obstacles created by seasonal flooding, Lee says.

Most humans who echolocate are blind or vision-impaired and use the skill to go about their daily activities. Some make clicks, either with their tongues or an object, like a cane, and then navigate via the resulting echo. Brain scans of echolocating humans show the part of the brain that processes vision is employed during this process. ( Read how blind people use sonar .)

“Brains don’t like undeveloped real estate,” Allen says, so “it’s too metabolically expensive to maintain” echolocation in people who don’t need it.

Even so, humans are remarkably adaptable, and research shows that, with patience, we can teach ourselves to echolocate .

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• Animal Behaviour
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• Marine Mammals
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December 21, 1998

How do bats echolocate and how are they adapted to this activity?

Alain Van Ryckegham, a professor at the School of Natural Resources at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada, offers this explanation:

Bats are a fascinating group of animals. They are one of the few mammals that can use sound to navigate--a trick called echolocation. Of the some 900 species of bats, more than half rely on echolocation to detect obstacles in flight, find their way into roosts and forage for food.

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Echolocation--the active use of sonar (SOund Navigation And Ranging) along with special morphological (physical features) and physiological adaptations--allows bats to "see" with sound. Most bats produce echolocation sounds by contracting their larynx (voice box). A few species, though, click their tongues. These sounds are generally emitted through the mouth, but Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae) and Old World leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideridae) emit their echolocation calls through their nostrils: there they have basal fleshy horseshoe or leaf-like structures that are well-adapted to function as megaphones.

Echolocation calls are usually ultrasonic--ranging in frequency from 20 to 200 kilohertz (kHz), whereas human hearing normally tops out at around 20 kHz. Even so, we can hear echolocation clicks from some bats, such as the Spotted bat (Euderma maculatum) . These noises resemble the sounds made by hitting two round pebbles together. In general, echolocation calls are characterized by their frequency; their intensity in decibels (dB); and their duration in milliseconds (ms).

In terms of pitch, bats produce echolocation calls with both constant frequencies (CF calls) and varying frequencies that are frequently modulated (FM calls). Most bats produce a complicated sequence of calls, combining CF and FM components. Although low frequency sound travels further than high-frequency sound, calls at higher frequencies give the bats more detailed information--such as size, range, position, speed and direction of a prey's flight. Thus, these sounds are used more often.

In terms of loudness, bats emit calls as low as 50 dB and as high as 120 dB, which is louder than a smoke detector 10 centimeters from your ear. That's not just loud, but damaging to human hearing. The Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) can emit such an intense sound. The good news is that because this call has an ultrasonic frequency, we are unable to hear it.

The ears and brain cells in bats are especially tuned to the frequencies of the sounds they emit and the echoes that result. A concentration of receptor cells in their inner ear makes bats extremely sensitive to frequency changes: Some Horseshoe bats can detect differences as slight as .000l Khz. For bats to listen to the echoes of their original emissions and not be temporarily deafened by the intensity of their own calls, the middle ear muscle (called the stapedius) contracts to separate the three bones there--the malleus, incus and stapes, or hammer, anvil and stirrup--and reduce the hearing sensitivity. This contraction occurs about 6 ms before the larynx muscles (called the crycothyroid) begin to contract. The middle ear muscle relaxes 2 to 8 ms later. At this point, the ear is ready to receive the echo of an insect one meter away, which takes only 6 ms.

The external structure of bats' ears also plays an important role in receiving echoes. The large variation in sizes, shapes, folds and wrinkles are thought to aid in the reception and funneling of echoes and sounds emitted from prey. Echolocation is a highly technical and interesting tactic. To truly understand the concepts and complexity of this subject is to begin to understand the amazing nature of these animals. For interested readers, an excellent resource is M. Brock Fenton's book Bats .

Echolocation 101: How dolphins see with sound

Whales, dolphins, and porpoise occupy a wide variety of habitats. They range from the small harbor porpoise found in shallow coastal waters to massive sperm whales diving below 1000 meters to catch the perfect squid! The underwater world can be like a labyrinth, and at times can have limited visibility-, especially below 200m, in the dark and murky waters. And so, how does a hungry dolphin locate a nearby school of fish? The answer: Echolocation !

Seeing with sound

Echolocation is the process of using reflected sound to obtain information about a nearby object. It could be food, another dolphin, or even an approaching iceberg perhaps. Sound can travel for many miles underwater, much farther than it travels in the air. The greater distance an object is from a dolphin, the longer it will take their returning echo to reach them. Then, the dolphins process these returning echos to determine the object’s size, shape, and speed.

Whales and dolphins are not the only creatures to use this fascinating tool. In fact, echolocation exists throughout the whole animal kingdom . Bats are perhaps the most well-known and well-studied animals that use echolocation. However, other animals that use echolocation include; shrimp, fish, shrews, and bird species. Interestingly, the technique is now adapted and used by some humans themselves.

The nitty gritty – how it works

Echolocation in dolphins works this way; dolphins and whales produce high-pitches whistles and clicks to communicate with each other. They produce clicks as they pass air through their tightly puckered “phonic lips” (also called monkey lips), found below the dolphin’s blowhole (see below). After that, the clicks are projected forward through the fatty melon (the soft area on a dolphin’s forehead) and into the water towards their target. This produces a sharp directional beam of sound.

This sound beam will bounce off the chosen target, returning to the dolphin, like a boomerang ! The dolphin receives this sound through “acoustic windows” in its lower jaw (see below). Equivalent to the human outer ear, the lower jaw directs sound into the middle ear for processing.

Eavesdropping on dolphins

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) uses technology to detect, monitor, or even track whales and dolphins. Scientists use hydrophones or, in other words, microphones to record and listen to sound underwater. It’s like eavesdropping on the dolphins! We can sort different species according to the frequencies of their echolocation clicks. Frequencies can range from 10-20 Hz with sperm whales, to high-frequency echolocation signals of harbor porpoises (up to 180 Hz). For some dolphins species, such as the bottlenose dolphin, we can recognize and track individuals in a population by their unique signature whistles!

We have many tools for PAM in the marine environment. Most platforms are fixed or mobile and deployed in one location for a set period of time (ranging from days to months). This is also called static acoustic monitoring and is very popular for long-term monitoring projects. Mobile platforms record sound for short periods while in motion, often a towed hydrophone from a boat or a drifting platform.

Monitoring our protected species

We use PAM set-ups across the globe to monitor most species of whales and dolphins. It has been critical in measuring marine mammal responses to human-made noise, such as shipping traffic or seismic surveys. PAM is vitally important for the long-term monitoring of ‘hot-spots’ such as breeding or feeding grounds to detect behavioral patterns and changes over the years.

PAM has also been useful in endangered species management and monitoring. Moreover, it has been key in efforts to save the critically endangered vaquita. The vaquita is the world’s smallest and most endangered cetacean. Intensive acoustic monitoring in the Gulf of California has allowed researchers to closely monitor the vaquita population’s declines to protect the species from extinction. Unfortunately, the latest surveys indicate that less than twenty vaquitas remain.  

BUZZ! It’s dinnertime

Passive acoustic monitoring records a series of echolocation clicks in what we call a click train . Scientists study click trains to identify behavioral patterns of the animals. One of the main behaviors commonly identified is foraging behavior, or in other words, prey hunting. Interestingly, the patterns of clicks used in foraging behavior in dolphins are similar to prey hunting behavior seen in echolocating bats !

When chasing prey, the time interval between clicks decreases, helping us to identify three distinct phases in dolphin click trains; search, approach, and prey capture.

• The search phase: dolphins search for their prey by scanning their head and constantly click before they detect their prey.
• The approach phase: once they detect their prey, clicking increases rapidly- the dolphin is homing in on their target.
• Prey capture attempt: At 1 m distance, the dolphin goes into the terminal “buzz,” indicating prey capture. We can see this by a very high rate of successive clicks sounding like a high pitch buzz. The time interval between clicks can decrease to as low as 1 millisecond. This is 0.001 of a second!! !

Feeding buzzes can be recorded for many dolphins and whales, including narwhals, dolphins, and beaked whales. An amazing example is Blainville’s beaked whales, which can produce as many as 300 buzz clicks in the last 3 m of approaching their prey.

Humans can learn echolocation too

Did you know humans can do it too? Human echolocation is a new technique. It’s all about developing your perception skills! Certainly, it is beneficial to help blind people orientate themselves with their surroundings.

In fact, Daniel Kish, the real-life ‘bat-man,’ is fully blind but he can use sound to “see” as well as anyone else! Why not be a dolphin for a day? You can learn it too! Daniel Kish demonstrates human echolocation, Link: https://youtu.be/-kB1-P-hZzg

Check out these links to learn more on echolocation in dolphins

• Check out my talk ‘Eavesdropping on dolphins’ for FameLab Ireland! https://y outu.be/BztKKTQ9ie8
• If you want to know the basics: https://dosits.org/
• Save the Vaquita!
• Can dolphins advance medicine? https://www.medimaging.net/ultrasound/articles/294773777/dolphin-echolocation-could-advance-medical-ultrasound.html
• How sound affects echolocation in dolphins and whales

Nicole Todd

Nicole is a PhD student at University College Cork. Her research focuses on the use of passive acoustic monitoring to detect patterns in occurrence and foraging behaviour for harbour porpoise. Research interests are marine mammal bioacoustics, disturbance ecology, and conservation.

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Science News Explores

Scientists say: echolocation.

This word describes a method some animals use to sense their environments with sound

Most bats produce high-pitched calls to echolocate. The sounds and their echoes help the animals navigate or snag a meal.

CreativeNature_nl/iStock/Getty Images Plus

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By Carolyn Wilke

April 27, 2020 at 6:30 am

Echolocation (noun, “EK-oh-lo-KAY-shun”)

This word describes a process that some animals use to sense their environments with sound.

Many animals depend on sight to find food and survey their surroundings. But a handful of creatures — such as bats, dolphins and shrews — use sound to sense the world around them. Sound travels through the air or water in waves. When these sound waves bump into an object, they bounce off it.

To use echolocation, animals first make a sound. Then, they listen for the echoes from the sound waves bouncing off objects in their surroundings. The animal’s brain can make sense of the sounds and echoes to navigate or find prey.

With echolocation, bats can fly through dark caves and locate insects in the dark of night. Whales make clicks that help them find food in the deep, dark ocean. And even some humans echolocate. Some people who are blind click with their tongues to make sounds. They can make sense of the echoes to avoid bumping into an obstacle.

A few technologies mimic the way animals echolocate. For example, submarines use what’s called sonar  to navigate. Sonar systems send out pulses of sound and detect the echoes. And ultrasound , a technology used in medicine, uses sound waves to take pictures inside of the body.

In a sentence

To stay submerged longer, whales recycle air  that they’ve used to make echolocation clicks.  

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What Is Echolocation? Definition and Examples in the Animal and Human Worlds

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Echolocation is a physiological process that certain animals use to locate objects in areas of low visibility. The animals emits high-pitched sound waves that bounce off objects, returning an “echo” and providing them information about the object’s size and distance. This way, they are able to map out and navigate their surroundings even when unable to see.

The skill is mainly reserved for animals who are nocturnal, deep burrowing, or live in large oceans. Because they live or hunt in areas of minimal light or complete darkness, they have evolved to rely less on sight, using sound to create a mental image of their surroundings instead. The animals' brains, which have evolved to understand these echoes, pick up on specific sound features like pitch, volume, and direction to navigate their surroundings or find prey.

Following a similar concept, some people who are blind have been able to train themselves to use echolocation by clicking their tongues.

How Does Echolocation Work?

To use echolocation, an animal must first create some kind of sound pulse. Typically, the sounds consist of high-pitched or ultrasonic squeaks or clicks. Then, they listen back for the echoes from the emitted sound waves bouncing off objects within their environment.

Bats and other animals that use echolocation are specially tuned to the properties of these echos. If the sound comes back quickly, the animal knows the object is closer; if the sound is more intense, it knows the object is bigger. Even the echo’s pitch helps the animal map its surroundings. An object in motion towards them creates a higher pitch, and objects moving in the opposite direction result in a lower-pitched returning echo.

Studies on echolocation signals have found genetic similarities between species that use echolocation. Specifically, orcas and bats, who’ve shared specific changes in a set of 18 genes connected to cochlear ganglion development (the group of neuron cells responsible for transmitting information from the ear to the brain).

Echolocation isn’t just reserved for nature anymore, either. Modern technologies have borrowed the concept for systems like sonar used for submarines to navigate, and ultrasound used in medicine to display images of the body.

Animal Echolocation

The same way that humans can see through the reflection of light, echolocating animals can “see” through the reflection of sound. The throat of a bat has particular muscles that allow it to emit ultrasonic sounds, while its ears have unique folds that make them extremely sensitive to the direction of sounds. While hunting at night, bats let out a series of clicks and squeaks that are sometimes so high-pitched that they are undetectable to the human ear . When the sound reaches an object, it bounces back, creating an echo and informing the bat of its surroundings. This helps the bat, for example, catch an insect in mid-flight.

Studies on bat social communication show that bats use echolocation to respond to certain social situations and distinguish between sexes or individuals, as well. Wild male bats sometimes discriminate approaching bats based solely on their echolocation calls, producing aggressive vocalizations towards other males and courtship vocalizations after hearing female echolocation calls.

Toothed whales, like dolphins and sperm whales, use echolocation to navigate the dark, murky waters deep beneath the ocean’s surface. Echolocating dolphins and whales push ultrasonic clicks through their nasal passages, sending the sounds into the marine environment to locate and distinguish objects from near or far distances.

The sperm whale’s head, one of the largest anatomical structures found in the animal kingdom, is filled with spermaceti (a waxy material) that helps sound waves bounce off the massive plate in its skull. The force focuses the sound waves into a narrow beam to allow for more accurate echolocation even over ranges of up to 60 kilometers. Beluga whales use the squishy round part of their foreheads (called a “melon”) to echolocate, focusing signals similarly to sperm whales.

Human Echolocation

Echolocation is most commonly associated with non-human animals like bats and dolphins, but some people have also mastered the skill. Even though they aren’t capable of hearing the high-pitched ultrasound that bats use for echolocation, some people who are blind have taught themselves to use noises and listen to the returning echoes to make better sense of their surroundings. Experiments in human echolocation have found that those who train in “human sonar” may present better performance and target detection if they make emissions with higher spectral frequencies. Others have discovered that human echolocation actually activates the visual brain.

Perhaps the most famous human echolocator is Daniel Kish , president of World Access for the Blind and an expert in human echolocation. Kish, who has been blind since he was 13 months old, uses mouth clicking sounds to navigate, listening to echoes as they reflect from surfaces and objects around him. He travels the world teaching other people to use sonar and has been instrumental in raising awareness for human echolocation and inspiring attention among the scientific community. In an interview with Smithsonian Magazine , Kish described his unique experience with echolocation:

It’s flashes. You do get a continuous sort of vision, the way you might if you used flashes to light up a darkened scene. It comes into clarity and focus with every flash, a kind of three-dimensional fuzzy geometry. It is in 3D, it has a 3D perspective, and it is a sense of space and spatial relationships. You have a depth of structure, and you have position and dimension. You also have a pretty strong sense of density and texture, that are sort of like the color, if you will, of flash sonar.

Marcovitz, Amir et al. " A Functional Enrichment Test For Molecular Convergent Evolution Finds A Clear Protein-Coding Signal In Echolocating Bats And Whales ." Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences , vol. 116, no. 42, 2019, pp. 21094-21103., doi:10.1073/pnas.1818532116

Knörnschild, Mirjam et al. " Bat Echolocation Calls Facilitate Social Communication ." Proceedings Of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences , vol. 279, no. 1748, 2012, pp. 4827-4835., doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.1995

Norman, L. J., and L. Thaler. " Human Echolocation For Target Detection Is More Accurate With Emissions Containing Higher Spectral Frequencies, And This Is Explained By Echo Intensity ." I-Perception , vol. 9, no. 3, 2018, doi:10.1177/2041669518776984

Thaler, Lore et al. " Neural Correlates Of Natural Human Echolocation In Early And Late Blind Echolocation Experts ." Plos ONE , vol. 6, no. 5, 2011, p. e20162., doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020162

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show/hide words to know

Echo: the returning sound wave after it hits an object

Electromagnetic: related to electric or magnetic fields

Navigate: to find your way.

Sound wave: sound that humans cannot see that travels through space

Ultrasonic: sounds that humans cannot hear.

What is Echolocation?

Echolocation is the use of sound waves and echoes to determine where objects are in space. Bats use echolocation to navigate and find food in the dark. To echolocate, bats send out sound waves from the mouth or nose. When the sound waves hit an object they produce echoes. The echo bounces off the object and returns to the bats' ears. Bats listen to the echoes to figure out where the object is, how big it is, and its shape.

Using echolocation, bats can detect objects as thin as a human hair in complete darkness. Echolocation allows bats to find insects the size of mosquitoes, which many bats like to eat . Bats aren't blind, but they can use echolocation to find their way around very quickly in total darkness.

Bat echolocation, visualized. The sounds that the bat makes are represented by the yellow sound waves; the purple sound waves show the sound waves that are reflecting off of the moth. The bat uses these returning sound waves to figure out the location of the moth.

What Sounds Do Bats Make?

The following image shows the sonogram of a silver-haired bat screech from the Western Ecological Research Center. In this recording you can hear a standard repeated call that is for basic navigation. Bats use this to avoid flying into objects. The faster clicking is likely because the bat has detected an insect and the bat needs more accuracy to catch its prey. You can use the player below to listen to the call or get the mp3 file here.

Your browser does not support this audio element.

 A sonogram, or sound graph, showing the screech of a silver-haired bat.

Did you know that other animals use echolocation too? Dolphins, whales, shrews and some birds use echolocation to navigate and find food. There are even some blind people that have learned to use echolocation to navigate within their surroundings.

Humans cannot hear ultrasonic sounds made by echolocating bats. But there are some insects that can hear these ultrasonic sounds. These insects include some moths, beetles, and crickets. When moths hear an echolocating bat, some will turn and fly away. Others will start flying in a zigzag, spiral, or looping pattern to avoid being eaten by the bat. Some crickets and beetles are known to make clicking sounds that startle the bat and scare it off thus avoiding being eaten.

Did you know that  sonar and radar navigation systems used by the military work in a similar way to bat echolocation? Engineers have even used bat echolocation to improve their designs. Just like bat echolocation, sonar uses sound waves to navigate and determine the location of objects like submarines and ships. Only sonar is used underwater, while bats echolocate in the open air. Radar uses electromagnetic waves to determine the location of objects like planes and ships. Like bat echolocation, radar is also used on open air.

Sound waves and sound reflection is used by bats and dolphins to echolocate; this process was studied and used to improve underwater sonar that we use in submarines and other water vessels.

Read more about: Bats

View citation, bibliographic details:.

• Article: Echolocation
• Author(s): Elizabeth Hagen
• Publisher: Arizona State University School of Life Sciences Ask A Biologist
• Site name: ASU - Ask A Biologist
• Date published: November 4, 2009
• Date accessed: March 24, 2024
• Link: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/echolocation

Elizabeth Hagen. (2009, November 04). Echolocation. ASU - Ask A Biologist. Retrieved March 24, 2024 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/echolocation

Chicago Manual of Style

Elizabeth Hagen. "Echolocation". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 04 November, 2009. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/echolocation

MLA 2017 Style

Elizabeth Hagen. "Echolocation". ASU - Ask A Biologist. 04 Nov 2009. ASU - Ask A Biologist, Web. 24 Mar 2024. https://askabiologist.asu.edu/echolocation

Donald Griffin (August 3, 1915 - November 7, 2003) was the zoologist who discovered how bats navigate. He is also the first person to use the word echolocation to describe how bats were able to find their way when flying in the dark. Working with neuroscientist Robert Galambos, their early experiments showed how bats used sound waves to navigate ... more

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How Dolphins Use Sound: Elementary

Developed by K. Schneider & W.K. Adams

Students learn about people and animals that use echolocation and how it works through video and discussion with their peers.

This activity can stand-alone or be done with other lessons in the echolocation unit. It can be used as a supplement for before, during, or after the echolocation unit.

Science Topics

Echoes Echolocation Speed of sound

Process Skills

Observing Predicting Scientific inquiry Comparing Classifying Communicating

Grade Level

Preparation.

50 minutes*

*The amount of time spent on this lesson depends on whether you’ve already taught the Doppler Effect lesson, and on how long you spend discussing the various jobs in acoustics.

Learning Goals

Students will be able to: • Explain and provide examples of how humans can use echolocation • Define an echo • Define SONAR and Echolocation and give examples of several animals that use these tools • Describe how far and what size objects dolphins can echolocate • Describe different methods of dolphin communication

How Dolphins Use Sound Word Doc How Dolphins Use Sound PDF PowerPoint Presentation PDF Slides

Materials not in Kit

Computers* Presentation equipment

*It’s best if all students have an opportunity to use a computer to experience the website resources. If it isn’t possible, you can demonstrate and make it interactive.

Set-up the presentation with the PowerPoint or PDF slides and open the videos and links to make sure everything works.

Introduce the Activity

Explain that you will be going through a presentation that talks about echolocation and SONAR, and shows how dolphins use sound.

Doing the Activity

• Show the video of the boy who learned to use echolocation
• Ask the class the following questions, and have them discuss their ideas with each other.

→ Why does this person use echolocation? → What is the range this person is capable of? → Do you think you could learn to echolocate?

Sound Simulator – http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/sound It’s best if students have an opportunity to play with the website themselves if there is time in another class period. If they don’t, this should be an interactive demonstration.

• Have the students work in pairs or small groups to predict what will happen when a soundwave hits a barrier, then they can share their ideas with the rest of class.
• Choose interference by reflection, the choose Pulse.
• Send one pulse at a time
• The students will discuss with each other what happened when the waves hit the barrier.

Echo Introduction 1. Ask the students the following questions: → Have you heard of echoes? → What are echoes? → What causes echoes?

2. Describe what an echo is • An echo is when sound hits an object and then bounces back. • When we hear an echo, we hear the bounce. • In the image, the blue wave travels towards the barrier and hits. The red shows the wave bouncing back towards us.

3. Discuss the idea of echoes with the students: → Where are some places that we can find echoes? → Who uses echoes?

Bat, Dolphin and Whale Communication

• Go to dosits.org and choose the “Audio Gallery.” Then select “Humpback Whale” and scroll down to the video of humpback whales off the coast of Hawaii.
• Ask the class to decide if they can see or hear the whales easier.
• You can always hear the whales, but it is difficult to see through the murky water. The sound travels well through water, but our eyes can’t pick up the images as clearly.

Types of Dolphins Scientists all agree that dolphins communicate with one another by using sounds and body language.

Dolphins and porpoises are the smallest toothed whales. Discuss the following types of dolphins:

Bottlenose Dolphins – Bottlenose dolphins, like Flipper the TV star, are the most familiar

Oceanic Dolphins – Including orcas and pilot whales, there are 32 species of oceanic dolphins

River Dolphins – There are 5 species of river dolphins

Porpoises – There are 6 species of porpoises All dolphins are porpoises, but orcas and beluga whales are also porpoises.

Dolphin Communication

• Ask the class to explain to each other how people recognize different people’s voices.
• Clicks and Whistles are the two main types of dolphin vocalization
• Each dolphin has its own “signature whistle”
• A “signature whistle is a series of whistles (like a dolphin Morse code) distinct from any other member of the group
• Dolphins recognize each other’s whistles
• Ask the class if they’ve heard of echolocation before, and if they know what it is. Echolocation refers to an ability that enables bats, dolphins and whales to essential “see” with their ears by listening for echoes. This helps these animals find and capture food.
• These animals echolocate by producing clicking sounds and then receiving and interpreting the resulting echo.
• Dolphins produce directional clicks and trains. Each click last about 50 to 128 microseconds.

Dolphin Echolocation: • Sound waves travel 4 times faster through water – much faster than sound travels through air! • These sound waves bounce off objects in the water and return to the dolphin in the form of an echo. • This is similar to the sound simulation we tried earlier which showed how sounds hit the barrier and bounce back.

Click Trains 1. Go to dosits.org and select “Sperm Whale Removing Fish from Line.” 2. Ask the group to figure it out:

→ What happens to sound as they get closer?

You may need to play this video more than once. Help students understand that the clicks get faster as the whale gets closer (to narrow location) and the whale can clearly see, but he is also using echolocation.

NOTE: the video camera is on the bottom of the fishing line looking up. The whale isn’t stuck, he’s just holding on with his teeth.)

Anatomy of a Dolphin’s Head – Sound Reception

• Show the picture of the dolphin’s head in the presentation and discuss the ways dolphins receive sound.
• Show the path of click trains in a dolphin’s head
• The click trains pass through the melon (the rounded region of a dolphin’s forehead), which consists of lipids (fats).
• The melon acts as an acoustical lens to focus these

Optional Information:

• The major areas of sound reception are the fat-filled cavities on the lower jaw bones. Sounds are received and conducted through the lower jaw to the middle ear, inner ear, and then to hearing centers in the brain via the auditory nerve.
• The brain receives the sound waves in the form of nerve impulses, which relay the messages of sound and enable the dolphin to interpret the sound’s meaning.
• By this complex system of echolocation, dolphins and whales can determine size, shape, speed, distance, direction, and even some of the internal structure of objects in the water.
• Bottlenose dolphins are able to learn and later recognize the echo signatures returned by preferred prey species.

How Far Can a Dolphin Echolocate?

• If you’ve already done the Echolocation Part 1 activity (middle school) or Echolocation Speed of Sound (lower elementary), have the groups think back and recall what was hardest, what they could and could not do when only using sound compared to sound and sight.
• Tell the class that some dolphins can use echolocation to detect a 15 centimeter (6 inch) long fish a football field away!
• High frequency sounds don’t travel far in water
• Low frequency sounds travel farther because of their longer wavelength and greater energy
• Echolocation is most effective at close to intermediate range because dolphins and whales use high frequency sounds
• Their range is about 5-200 meters for targets 5-15 centimeters in length. This would be like clearly identifying a banana from 2 football fields away!

Echolocation vs. Sight

• Discuss the fact that dolphins and bats are  not  actually blind, but use echolocation as their primary tool. Whales and dolphins do see better than bats.
• Despite the effectiveness of echolocation, studies show that a visually-deprived dolphin takes more time to echolocate on an object than a dolphin using both vision and echolocation.

Common Dolphin Sound Clips

• Go to  http://dosits.org/galleries/audio-gallery/marine-mammals/toothed-whales/sperm-whale/  and listen to the two sound clips from the presentation.
• Ask the class the following questions and let them discuss amongst themselves.

→ What did you hear in each sound clip?

→ What did you hear in each sound clip? → How are the two sounds different from each other?

Dolphin Communication/Sounds Discuss the different methods dolphins have of communicating:

• Dolphins produce non-verbal sounds by slapping a body part against the surface of the water, which makes both a sound and a splash. Tail or fluke slapping is also common.
• Kerplunks are another non-vocal sound made by the tail. Other parts of the body used to produce noise in a slapping manner are pectoral fins and the whole body.
• Finally, jaw claps are made either above or underwater.

Key Lesson Terminology

Echoes – reflections or repetitions of sound waves. Echoes can be produced and heard by clapping hands or shouting in a large empty room with hard walls or in a cave for example.

Echolocation – a method used to detect objects by producing a specific sound and listening for its echo.

SONAR – Sound Navigation And Ranging, is the process of listening to specific sounds to determine where objects are located.

Clicks and Whistles – the two main types of dolphin communication.

Optional Extensions

Read 2-3 career profiles to the class and have them answer the following questions:

→ What’s in common regarding what they do as scientists? → What’s in common about the advice they give to students? → How do these scientists get to where they are today?

After the students have looked at the profiles, discuss them with the class.

14.1 Speed of Sound, Frequency, and Wavelength

Section learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to do the following:

• Relate the characteristics of waves to properties of sound waves
• Describe the speed of sound and how it changes in various media
• Relate the speed of sound to frequency and wavelength of a sound wave

Teacher Support

The learning objectives in this section will help your students master the following standards:

• (A) examine and describe oscillatory motion and wave propagation in various types of media;
• (B) investigate and analyze characteristics of waves, including velocity, frequency, amplitude, and wavelength, and calculate using the relationship between wave speed, frequency, and wavelength;
• (C) compare characteristics and behaviors of transverse waves, including electromagnetic waves and the electromagnetic spectrum, and characteristics and behaviors of longitudinal waves, including sound waves;
• (F) describe the role of wave characteristics and behaviors in medical and industrial applications.

In addition, the High School Physics Laboratory Manual addresses content in this section in the lab titled: Waves, as well as the following standards:

• (B) investigate and analyze characteristics of waves, including velocity, frequency, amplitude, and wavelength, and calculate using the relationship between wave speed, frequency, and wavelength.

Section Key Terms

[BL] [OL] Review waves and types of waves—mechanical and non-mechanical, transverse and longitudinal, pulse and periodic. Review properties of waves—amplitude, period, frequency, velocity and their inter-relations.

Properties of Sound Waves

Sound is a wave. More specifically, sound is defined to be a disturbance of matter that is transmitted from its source outward. A disturbance is anything that is moved from its state of equilibrium. Some sound waves can be characterized as periodic waves, which means that the atoms that make up the matter experience simple harmonic motion .

A vibrating string produces a sound wave as illustrated in Figure 14.2 , Figure 14.3 , and Figure 14.4 . As the string oscillates back and forth, part of the string’s energy goes into compressing and expanding the surrounding air. This creates slightly higher and lower pressures. The higher pressure... regions are compressions, and the low pressure regions are rarefactions . The pressure disturbance moves through the air as longitudinal waves with the same frequency as the string. Some of the energy is lost in the form of thermal energy transferred to the air. You may recall from the chapter on waves that areas of compression and rarefaction in longitudinal waves (such as sound) are analogous to crests and troughs in transverse waves .

The amplitude of a sound wave decreases with distance from its source, because the energy of the wave is spread over a larger and larger area. But some of the energy is also absorbed by objects, such as the eardrum in Figure 14.5 , and some of the energy is converted to thermal energy in the air. Figure 14.4 shows a graph of gauge pressure versus distance from the vibrating string. From this figure, you can see that the compression of a longitudinal wave is analogous to the peak of a transverse wave, and the rarefaction of a longitudinal wave is analogous to the trough of a transverse wave. Just as a transverse wave alternates between peaks and troughs, a longitudinal wave alternates between compression and rarefaction.

The Speed of Sound

[BL] Review the fact that sound is a mechanical wave and requires a medium through which it is transmitted.

[OL] [AL] Ask students if they know the speed of sound and if not, ask them to take a guess. Ask them why the sound of thunder is heard much after the lightning is seen during storms. This phenomenon is also observed during a display of fireworks. Through this discussion, develop the concept that the speed of sound is finite and measurable and is much slower than that of light.

The speed of sound varies greatly depending upon the medium it is traveling through. The speed of sound in a medium is determined by a combination of the medium’s rigidity (or compressibility in gases) and its density. The more rigid (or less compressible) the medium, the faster the speed of sound. The greater the density of a medium, the slower the speed of sound. The speed of sound in air is low, because air is compressible. Because liquids and solids are relatively rigid and very difficult to compress, the speed of sound in such media is generally greater than in gases. Table 14.1 shows the speed of sound in various media. Since temperature affects density, the speed of sound varies with the temperature of the medium through which it’s traveling to some extent, especially for gases.

Misconception Alert

Students might be confused between rigidity and density and how they affect the speed of sound. The speed of sound is slower in denser media. Solids are denser than gases. However, they are also very rigid, and hence sound travels faster in solids. Stress on the fact that the speed of sound always depends on a combination of these two properties of any medium.

[BL] Note that in the table, the speed of sound in very rigid materials such as glass, aluminum, and steel ... is quite high, whereas the speed in rubber, which is considerably less rigid, is quite low.

The Relationship Between the Speed of Sound and the Frequency and Wavelength of a Sound Wave

Sound, like all waves, travels at certain speeds through different media and has the properties of frequency and wavelength . Sound travels much slower than light—you can observe this while watching a fireworks display (see Figure 14.6 ), since the flash of an explosion is seen before its sound is heard.

The relationship between the speed of sound, its frequency, and wavelength is the same as for all waves:

where v is the speed of sound (in units of m/s), f is its frequency (in units of hertz), and λ λ is its wavelength (in units of meters). Recall that wavelength is defined as the distance between adjacent identical parts of a wave. The wavelength of a sound, therefore, is the distance between adjacent identical parts of a sound wave. Just as the distance between adjacent crests in a transverse wave is one wavelength, the distance between adjacent compressions in a sound wave is also one wavelength, as shown in Figure 14.7 . The frequency of a sound wave is the same as that of the source. For example, a tuning fork vibrating at a given frequency would produce sound waves that oscillate at that same frequency. The frequency of a sound is the number of waves that pass a point per unit time.

[BL] [OL] [AL] In musical instruments, shorter strings vibrate faster and hence produce sounds at higher pitches. Fret placements on instruments such as guitars, banjos, and mandolins, are mathematically determined to give the correct interval or change in pitch. When the string is pushed against the fret wire, the string is effectively shortened, changing its pitch. Ask students to experiment with strings of different lengths and observe how the pitch changes in each case.

One of the more important properties of sound is that its speed is nearly independent of frequency. If this were not the case, and high-frequency sounds traveled faster, for example, then the farther you were from a band in a football stadium, the more the sound from the low-pitch instruments would lag behind the high-pitch ones. But the music from all instruments arrives in cadence independent of distance, and so all frequencies must travel at nearly the same speed.

Recall that v = f λ v = f λ , and in a given medium under fixed temperature and humidity, v is constant. Therefore, the relationship between f and λ λ is inverse: The higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength of a sound wave.

Teacher Demonstration

Hold a meter stick flat on a desktop, with about 80 cm sticking out over the edge of the desk. Make the meter stick vibrate by pulling the tip down and releasing, while holding the meter stick tight to the desktop. While it is vibrating, move the stick back onto the desktop, shortening the part that is sticking out. Students will see the shortening of the vibrating part of the meter stick, and hear the pitch or number of vibrations go up—an increase in frequency.

The speed of sound can change when sound travels from one medium to another. However, the frequency usually remains the same because it is like a driven oscillation and maintains the frequency of the original source. If v changes and f remains the same, then the wavelength λ λ must change. Since v = f λ v = f λ , the higher the speed of a sound, the greater its wavelength for a given frequency.

[AL] Ask students to predict what would happen if the speeds of sound in air varied by frequency.

Virtual Physics

This simulation lets you see sound waves. Adjust the frequency or amplitude (volume) and you can see and hear how the wave changes. Move the listener around and hear what she hears. Switch to the Two Source Interference tab or the Interference by Reflection tab to experiment with interference and reflection.

Tips For Success

Make sure to have audio enabled and set to Listener rather than Speaker, or else the sound will not vary as you move the listener around.

• Because, intensity of the sound wave changes with the frequency.
• Because, the speed of the sound wave changes when the frequency is changed.
• Because, loudness of the sound wave takes time to adjust after a change in frequency.
• Because it takes time for sound to reach the listener, so the listener perceives the new frequency of sound wave after a delay.
• Yes, the speed of propagation depends only on the frequency of the wave.
• Yes, the speed of propagation depends upon the wavelength of the wave, and wavelength changes as the frequency changes.
• No, the speed of propagation depends only on the wavelength of the wave.
• No, the speed of propagation is constant in a given medium; only the wavelength changes as the frequency changes.

Voice as a Sound Wave

In this lab you will observe the effects of blowing and speaking into a piece of paper in order to compare and contrast different sound waves.

• sheet of paper

Instructions

• Suspend a sheet of paper so that the top edge of the paper is fixed and the bottom edge is free to move. You could tape the top edge of the paper to the edge of a table, for example.
• Gently blow air near the edge of the bottom of the sheet and note how the sheet moves.
• Speak softly and then louder such that the sounds hit the edge of the bottom of the paper, and note how the sheet moves.
• Interpret the results.

Grasp Check

Which sound wave property increases when you are speaking more loudly than softly?

• amplitude of the wave
• frequency of the wave
• speed of the wave
• wavelength of the wave

Worked Example

What are the wavelengths of audible sounds.

Calculate the wavelengths of sounds at the extremes of the audible range, 20 and 20,000 Hz, in conditions where sound travels at 348.7 m/s.

To find wavelength from frequency, we can use v = f λ v = f λ .

(1) Identify the knowns. The values for v and f are given.

(2) Solve the relationship between speed, frequency and wavelength for λ λ .

(3) Enter the speed and the minimum frequency to give the maximum wavelength.

(4) Enter the speed and the maximum frequency to give the minimum wavelength.

Because the product of f multiplied by λ λ equals a constant velocity in unchanging conditions, the smaller f is, the larger λ λ must be, and vice versa. Note that you can also easily rearrange the same formula to find frequency or velocity.

Practice Problems

• 5 × 10 3 m / s
• 3.2 × 10 2 m / s
• 2 × 10 − 4 m/s
• 8 × 10 2 m / s
• 2.0 × 10 7 m
• 1.5 × 10 7 m
• 1.4 × 10 2 m
• 7.4 × 10 − 3 m

Links To Physics

Echolocation.

Echolocation is the use of reflected sound waves to locate and identify objects. It is used by animals such as bats, dolphins and whales, and is also imitated by humans in SONAR—Sound Navigation and Ranging—and echolocation technology.

Bats, dolphins and whales use echolocation to navigate and find food in their environment. They locate an object (or obstacle) by emitting a sound and then sensing the reflected sound waves. Since the speed of sound in air is constant, the time it takes for the sound to travel to the object and back gives the animal a sense of the distance between itself and the object. This is called ranging . Figure 14.8 shows a bat using echolocation to sense distances.

Echolocating animals identify an object by comparing the relative intensity of the sound waves returning to each ear to figure out the angle at which the sound waves were reflected. This gives information about the direction, size and shape of the object. Since there is a slight distance in position between the two ears of an animal, the sound may return to one of the ears with a bit of a delay, which also provides information about the position of the object. For example, if a bear is directly to the right of a bat, the echo will return to the bat’s left ear later than to its right ear. If, however, the bear is directly ahead of the bat, the echo would return to both ears at the same time. For an animal without a sense of sight such as a bat, it is important to know where other animals are as well as what they are; their survival depends on it.

Principles of echolocation have been used to develop a variety of useful sensing technologies. SONAR, is used by submarines to detect objects underwater and measure water depth. Unlike animal echolocation, which relies on only one transmitter (a mouth) and two receivers (ears), manmade SONAR uses many transmitters and beams to get a more accurate reading of the environment. Radar technologies use the echo of radio waves to locate clouds and storm systems in weather forecasting, and to locate aircraft for air traffic control. Some new cars use echolocation technology to sense obstacles around the car, and warn the driver who may be about to hit something (or even to automatically parallel park). Echolocation technologies and training systems are being developed to help visually impaired people navigate their everyday environments.

• The echo would return to the left ear first.
• The echo would return to the right ear first.

Check Your Understanding

Use these questions to assess student achievement of the section’s Learning Objectives. If students are struggling with a specific objective, these questions will help identify which and direct students to the relevant content.

• Rarefaction is the high-pressure region created in a medium when a longitudinal wave passes through it.
• Rarefaction is the low-pressure region created in a medium when a longitudinal wave passes through it.
• Rarefaction is the highest point of amplitude of a sound wave.
• Rarefaction is the lowest point of amplitude of a sound wave.

What sort of motion do the particles of a medium experience when a sound wave passes through it?

• Simple harmonic motion
• Circular motion
• Random motion
• Translational motion

What does the speed of sound depend on?

• The wavelength of the wave
• The size of the medium
• The frequency of the wave
• The properties of the medium

What property of a gas would affect the speed of sound traveling through it?

• The volume of the gas
• The flammability of the gas
• The mass of the gas
• The compressibility of the gas

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Rate the lesson plan, lesson plan, echolocation in action.

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

Essential Question

What is echolocation and what role does sound play in an underwater environment?

*How do marine mammals use sound? *What are the most common human-made sounds heard in the ocean? *How might vessel noise affect the behavior (feeding, diving, respiration, resting) of marine mammals? *Why is studying underwater acoustics important to the survival of marine mammals?

Marine animals rely on sound to acoustically sense their surroundings, communicate, locate food, and protect themselves underwater. Some predators, like orcas (killer whales) and dolphins, use echolocation to find prey. By emitting short pulses of sounds called clicks, these marine mammals listen for echoes to detect prey and navigate around obstacles. Similarly, some fish are able to hear the killer whale clicks and avoid capture! Because these animals live in a relatively dark environment, being able to "see" acoustically is important to their survival. Engineers have mimicked this natural echolocation in SONAR ( SO und N avigation A nd R anging) which works the same way as echolocation in animals.

Some blind people use sonar by listening to the echoes from taps of their canes to help them avoid objects or help them determine how far they are away from a wall. Sound travels faster and farther underwater than through air. This means that sounds produced by marine animals and humans can travel great distances without much loss to the quality of the sound. These sounds are often reflected by underwater topography making it tricky to communicate using sound underwater. Marine mammals must be able to sort out all the echoes in the water in order to effectively communicate and feed. Whales and dolphin anatomy and sensory systems are adapted to meet this challenge. 

While humpback whales do not echolocate, they do use sound to communicate and may use sound to navigate and find food. Glacier Bay is currently studying the effects underwater sound may have on the feeding behavior of endangered humpback whales. Research shows that whales may move away from preferred feeding areas when disturbed by boat noise. Repeated disturbances could be detrimental to Alaskan humpbacks, who must feed enough during the summer to sustain themselves through their 3,000 mile roundtrip migration to and from Hawaii. Additionally, increased ambient noise, or background noise, may make it difficult for humpback whales and other animals to communicate, find mates and more.

Preparation

• Review background information
• Preview video
• Print student materials

Students use in rounds 1 to 3.

Download Echolocation Worksheet

Worksheet for student use in step 2.

Download Echolocation Bar Graph Worksheet

Lesson Hook/Preview

Do Now: When you hear a strange noise, how do you figure out what it is? Jot down your thoughts in your notebook.

Step 1:  Engagement (10 minutes)

Tell students they are going to hone their sense of hearing by using their hands to make "cups." Teach them how to cup their hands around their ears facing forward, then backward. This will help focus sounds to their ears. Tell them it may be useful during the next investigation. Allow them to experiment with their new "ears" by trying to focus on a sound in the room. You can have a student go to the back of the room and clap. 

Ask students to carefully listen to several underwater sounds from the clips provided. All of these sounds were recorded using the hydrophone in Glacier Bay. Listen to all six, so students will have the opportunity to discriminate between human-made, animal, and other natural sounds. As you play each clip, have students try to identify the sound source (what is making the sound) and write it in their journals. Ask students to explain experiences they've had with sound underwater.

Underwater sounds recorded in Glacier Bay (click here for a page with audio recordings)

echolocation, sonar, sound source

Enrichment Activities

Have students compile their data and make comparisons. Create one large chart or bar graph using computer programs like Excel or Word Charts/Graphs. For a more challenging activity, have students plot actual location of snap versus real location and then find the percent of correct responses. 

Have students watch the short four-minute video  Dean Hudson, acoustic navigator . Dean is visually impaired and uses sound clues to navigate the city. Have several students wear blindfolds or close their eyes while making sound. They can either clap or snap their fingers. See if they can interpret the echoes to navigate around the room without bumping into objects or a wall. Be sure to give them plenty of space and use some students as monitors to help prevent trips or falls.

Additional Resources

Glacier Bay Acoustic Monitoring Glacier Bay Underwater Acoustics Video Teach Engineering , resources for K-12 from the University of Colorado.     The Cornell Lab Bioacoustics Research Program Exploratorium, The Listen Project

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Last updated: March 8, 2024

Human Echolocation – How Blind People See With Sound

by Vision Science Academy | May 1, 2022 | Manuscripts | 0 comments

Satyam Jha , Bachelor In Clinical Optometry

Student, pailan college of management and technology, kolkata, india.

We live in a loud world. We don’t usually notice every sound because most of it is constantly tuned out by our brains. The unimportant noise which surrounds us, we must be able to filter those, so it doesn’t sound like a jumble mess. But imagine being able to pick out any one sound, and use only that sound to navigate any environment, even one you’ve never been in before. Now as a person with a sense of vision, this seems impossible. But with the help of a teacher in the O & M program, one can learn how to do it.

Figure 1 : Echolocation in Bats and Whales [Picture Courtesy : https://www.zmescience.com/medicine/genetic/convergent-evolution-echolocation-bats-dolphins-0423432/]

Can anyone learn Echolocation ?

ECHOLOCATION is used by tons of animals, from whales to bats, to birds even some shrews can do it (Fig1). The species that are the best at it use Active echolocation , the same way that sonar works on a ship. Instead of just listening, they first send out a sound, like a click. Those sound waves sweep through the environment, and if they hit something, they bounce back. By reading these echoes, the brain can form a mental map. The time between when the sound is made , and when it bounces back helps the brain calculate things like distance and the quality of the sound bouncing back can even carry information like an object’s texture or hardness. (1,2)

Passive And Active Echolocation

Passive Echolocation detects things using sound already in the environment but in Active Echolocation special sound is emitted. Active echolocation is just passive echolocation at a more enhanced level. So, whether we send the brain patterns of light, which is vision, or a pattern of sound, the brain will still construct an image. Scientists have found that blind people are almost a little better at echolocation than those with vision. Their brains had to develop new ways to handle sensory information.

When scientists put blind echolocators into an MRI machine, and played recorded echoes back to them, the regions of the brain associated with vision were activated, even though they weren’t getting any visual input. The parts of the brain that handle motion and movement were turned on during active echolocation, even if the person wasn’t moving at all. The weird part is that we don’t really understand exactly how brains rewire like this, but it’s another sign how adaptable the brain is. (3,4)

Figure 3 : Human Echolocation Showing Visual Components [Picture Courtesy : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_echolocation ]

Conclusion: When it’s extremely crowded , guide dogs can’t help effectively in navigation  similarly the features of canes are also limited In really crowded environments most blind people end up going to a sighted guide. Every blind person needs to be educated about echolocation and possibly we should expand the research works to rehabilitate those with visually impaired to be able to use the brain’s capacity and navigate as independently as possible.

• Tonelli, Alessia, Claudio Campus, and Luca Brayda. “How body motion influences echolocation while walking.” Scientific reports 8.1 (2018): 15704. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-34074-7
• Flanagin, Virginia L., et al. “Human exploration of enclosed spaces through echolocation.” Journal of Neuroscience 37.6 (2017): https://www.jneurosci.org/content/37/6/1614
• Thaler, Lore, Rosanna C. Wilson, and Bethany K. Gee. “Correlation between vividness of visual imagery and echolocation ability in sighted, echo-naïve people.” Experimental brain research 232.6 (2014): 1915-1925 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24584899?dopt=Abstract
• Thaler, Lore, Stephen R. Arnott, and Melvyn A. Goodale. “Neural correlates of natural human echolocation in early and late blind echolocation experts.” PLoS one 6.5 (2011): e20162. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0020162
• Rojas, Juan Antonio Martínez, et al. “Physical analysis of several organic signals for human echolocation: oral vacuum pulses.” Acta acustica united with acustica 95.2 (2009): 325-330. https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/dav/aaua/2009/00000095/00000002/art00013%3bjsessionid=22n2u0km0n1qr.x-ic-live-03

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by Chris Woodford . Last updated: July 23, 2023.

Photo: Sound is energy we hear made by things that vibrate. Photo by William R. Goodwin courtesy of US Navy and Wikimedia Commons .

What is sound?

Photo: Sensing with sound: Light doesn't travel well through ocean water: over half the light falling on the sea surface is absorbed within the first meter of water; 100m down and only 1 percent of the surface light remains. That's largely why mighty creatures of the deep rely on sound for communication and navigation. Whales, famously, "talk" to one another across entire ocean basins, while dolphins use sound, like bats, for echolocation. Photo by Bill Thompson courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service .

Robert Boyle's classic experiment

Artwork: Robert Boyle's famous experiment with an alarm clock.

How sound travels

Artwork: Sound waves and ocean waves compared. Top: Sound waves are longitudinal waves: the air moves back and forth along the same line as the wave travels, making alternate patterns of compressions and rarefactions. Bottom: Ocean waves are transverse waves: the water moves back and forth at right angles to the line in which the wave travels.

The science of sound waves

Picture: Reflected sound is extremely useful for "seeing" underwater where light doesn't really travel—that's the basic idea behind sonar. Here's a side-scan sonar (reflected sound) image of a World War II boat wrecked on the seabed. Photo courtesy of U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, US Navy, and Wikimedia Commons .

Whispering galleries and amphitheaters

Photos by Carol M. Highsmith: 1) The Capitol in Washington, DC has a whispering gallery inside its dome. Photo credit: The George F. Landegger Collection of District of Columbia Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress , Prints and Photographs Division. 2) It's easy to hear people talking in the curved memorial amphitheater building at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. Photo credit: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress , Prints and Photographs Division.

Measuring waves

Understanding amplitude and frequency, why instruments sound different, the speed of sound.

Photo: Breaking through the sound barrier creates a sonic boom. The mist you can see, which is called a condensation cloud, isn't necessarily caused by an aircraft flying supersonic: it can occur at lower speeds too. It happens because moist air condenses due to the shock waves created by the plane. You might expect the plane to compress the air as it slices through. But the shock waves it generates alternately expand and contract the air, producing both compressions and rarefactions. The rarefactions cause very low pressure and it's these that make moisture in the air condense, producing the cloud you see here. Photo by John Gay courtesy of US Navy and Wikimedia Commons .

Why does sound go faster in some things than in others?

Chart: Generally, sound travels faster in solids (right) than in liquids (middle) or gases (left)... but there are exceptions!

How to measure the speed of sound

Sound in practice, if you liked this article..., find out more, on this website.

• Electric guitars
• Speech synthesis
• Synthesizers

On other sites

• Explore Sound : A comprehensive educational site from the Acoustical Society of America, with activities for students of all ages.
• Sound Waves : A great collection of interactive science lessons from the University of Salford, which explains what sound waves are and the different ways in which they behave.

Educational books for younger readers

• Sound (Science in a Flash) by Georgia Amson-Bradshaw. Franklin Watts/Hachette, 2020. Simple facts, experiments, and quizzes fill this book; the visually exciting design will appeal to reluctant readers. Also for ages 7–9.
• Sound by Angela Royston. Raintree, 2017. A basic introduction to sound and musical sounds, including simple activities. Ages 7–9.
• Experimenting with Sound Science Projects by Robert Gardner. Enslow Publishers, 2013. A comprehensive 120-page introduction, running through the science of sound in some detail, with plenty of hands-on projects and activities (including welcome coverage of how to run controlled experiments using the scientific method). Ages 9–12.
• Cool Science: Experiments with Sound and Hearing by Chris Woodford. Gareth Stevens Inc, 2010. One of my own books, this is a short introduction to sound through practical activities, for ages 9–12.
• Adventures in Sound with Max Axiom, Super Scientist by Emily Sohn. Capstone, 2007. The original, graphic novel (comic book) format should appeal to reluctant readers. Ages 8–10.

Popular science

• The Sound Book: The Science of the Sonic Wonders of the World by Trevor Cox. W. W. Norton, 2014. An entertaining tour through everyday sound science.

Academic books

• Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest and Ken Pohlmann. McGraw-Hill Education, 2015. A comprehensive reference for undergraduates and sound-design professionals.
• The Science of Sound by Thomas D. Rossing, Paul A. Wheeler, and F. Richard Moore. Pearson, 2013. One of the most popular general undergraduate texts.

Text copyright © Chris Woodford 2009, 2021. All rights reserved. Full copyright notice and terms of use .

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Moscow Travel Guide: Best Things to Do + More [2023]

· everything to know about visiting moscow, including the best things to do and how to get around. ·.

Moscow is Russia’s vibrant capital city, and it also happens to be the largest city in all of Europe. The city’s long and infamous history makes it one of the most unique places we have ever visited.

The architecture ranges from centuries-old palaces to uniform, gray concrete buildings. The people range from cold and private to warm and welcoming. Moscow is a city is strong juxtapositions, and we learned a lot during our time there.

This post will break down all you need to know about visiting Moscow, including the best things to do, how to get there, how to get around, and more.

The Best Things to Do in Moscow

1. explore the red square.

The Red Square is the heart of Moscow. Most of the city’s top attractions can be found here, including just about everything on this list. The Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, and Lenin’s Mausoleum are all located here, and the State Historical Museum and GUM are not far from here, either.

The Red Square is a common home for parades, protests, and seasonal celebrations. There are massive Christmas celebrations here, with food vendors and carnival rides set up in numbers.

2. Check Out the Ziferblat

The Ziferblat is a café in Moscow that is unlike any café we have ever been to. While most cafes charge you for your drinks and food, the Ziferblat charges you for your time.

Upon arrival, you are given a clock. When you leave, the barista calculates how much time you spent in the café and charges you accordingly. This concept was created to help visitors to be more intentional with their time, and the cafe itself is incredibly charming.

For a detailed look at everything you need to know before you visit, make sure you read my post about visiting the Ziferblat Cafe in Moscow .

3. Marvel at St. Basil’s Cathedral

St. Basil’s Cathedral is one of the most iconic churches in the world, and it was the single thing we were most excited to see while in Moscow. Built almost 500 years ago, St. Basil’s Cathedral is recognized by its colorful domes and whimsical style. The church is of the Russian Orthodox faith, and the inside is just as wondrous as the outside.

St. Basil’s Cathedral is located on the edge of the Red Square, making it incredibly convenient to visit. Entrance for non-worshippers costs 800 rubles, and tickets can be bought at the church

4. Explore the Kremlin

The Kremlin is the largest active fortress in Europe, and it is the site of most of Russia’s government affairs. In addition to government buildings, the Kremlin Complex is filled with courtyards, towers, and museums that are open to the public. If you have the time, you could spend a couple of days fully exploring all that there is to see in the Kremlin.

5. Walk Through Lenin’s Mausoleum

Vladimir Lenin is one of the most important figures in Russian history, and his body is located perfectly embalmed in a mausoleum in the Red Square. The Mausoleum is open to the public to visit, and as long as you are willing to go through a few security checks, it is easily one of the best things to do in Moscow. Its convenient location in the Red Square makes it a can’t miss attraction.

There is absolutely no photography allowed inside the Mausoleum. Do not test this rule.

6. Wander Along Arbat Street

The Arbat is a very popular street in Moscow that is lined with stores, cafes, and other touristy attractions. It is one of the oldest streets in the city, dating back to the 1400s. This street is both quaint and trendy, and there are many walking tours that introduce tourists to the neighborhood’s wonders and highlights.

7. Catch a Show at the Bolshoi Theatre

As a lover of the arts, it is hard to think of Moscow and not think of ballet. Russia has always been a top dog in the world of fine arts, and Bolshoi Theater is one of the best places to catch a performance. We were lucky enough to attend an Opera here, and it is a venue that you don’t want to miss out on if you enjoy opera, ballet, or orchestral performances.

8. Visit the State Historical Museum

The State Historical Museum is one of the most respected museums in Moscow. Despite its name, it is not really focused on the history of Russia as a nation. Rather, it contains a collection of artifacts from all throughout Russia’s history.

The museum’s collection is very broad in nature. It houses some items from indigenous tribes that used to occupy the region, pieces collected by the Romanov family, and more.

9. Wander Around GUM

GUM is an absolutely massive mall within walking distance of the Red Square. It isn’t just the size that draws visitors here; it’s the sense of luxury. The mall is so beautiful inside, much like the metro stations.

While visiting a mall might not sound like it belongs on a bucket list, this mall does. You will not want to miss out on visiting GUM while in Moscow.

10. Admire the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

While St. Basil’s Cathedral is the most iconic church in Moscow, it isn’t the only one. The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is absolutely stunning, with massive golden domes. It is the tallest Orthodox church in the world, and it is the seat of the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow.

It is located just about a mile from the Red Square, just south of the Kremlin Complex. You can walk to it from the Red Square in about 20 minutes.

How to Get to Moscow

Flying to moscow.

Moscow has three major international airports: Sheremetyevo (SVO) , Domodedovo (DMO) , and Vnukovo (VKO) . All three of them are directly connected to downtown Moscow by the Aeroexpress trains, which leave every 30 minutes throughout the day. By Aeroexpress train, you can expect to get to the city center in 25-45 minutes depending on the airport that you fly into.

Sheremetyevo is the biggest and busiest of the three airports, and it is the one you are most likely to fly into – especially if you are coming from outside of Europe or the Caucus region. We flew into Sheremetyevo on a direct flight from New York City.

I usually provide backup airport options, because flying right into the city isn’t always the cheapest way to get where you’re going. Unfortunately, when it comes to Moscow, don’t really have a choice other than to fly right into Moscow. It is a very remote city, and it is usually the cheapest place to fly into in Russia as a whole.

Since Sheremetyevo is so busy, you will probably find a great flight option anyway. I wrote in  my post about finding cheap flights  that using hub airports will lead to more affordable airfare, and the same logic applies here. Even though Russia’s national airline, Aeroflot, is no longer a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, Moscow is still a major hub connecting passengers from all over the world.

READ OUR CHEAT SHEET

Train or Bus to Moscow

Trains and buses are one of the most popular ways to get around Europe. However, they’re of very little use when you’re trying to get to Moscow.

Moscow is hundreds of miles from the nearest major cities. The only major European city that can even be reached within 8 hours on the ground is St. Petersburg, and even the Baltic capitals of Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn are over 12 hours away.

If you want to get to Moscow, the best option is almost always to fly. While the train routes to Moscow are scenic, they simply take forever.

How to Get Around Moscow

METRO | TROLLEYS | TRAMS | BUSES

Moscow has one of the most memorable metro systems in the world. Its metro lines are very deep underground, and the stations are absolutely stunning. Each station has its own unique style, but all of them contain escalators that seem to go on forever.

The system was built in an effort to showcase the power of the Soviet Union and its bright future. The plans were a form of propaganda, but they resulted in what is still one of the most visually appealing subway systems on earth.

Moscow’s metro system isn’t just pretty. It is also very useful and accessible. The system has 17 lines that connect the city and its surrounding area.

But wait; there’s more!

The Moscow metro system is also incredibly affordable, with each ride costing less than a dollar. The metro is by far the best way to get around Moscow, as it is almost impossible to beat the connection times and the low cost to ride.

Tickets can be bought at electronic, English-speaking kiosks in stations, or directly from ticket counters at certain larger stations. There are also day passes available, which are a very solid option if you plan on riding the metro several times per day.

The metro is by far the best way to get around Moscow.

In addition to the metro system, Moscow also has a network of buses, trams, and trolleys. This system is nowhere near as convenient or well-connected as the metro, though, and is likely of little use to you during your trip. There is no Uber in Moscow, but a similar app named Yandex is available if you need a ride in a pinch.

How Many Days Do You Need in Moscow?

Moscow is the biggest city in all of Europe, and it is absolutely loaded with things to do. You could spend weeks in Moscow and still find new things to do. Of course, most travelers don’t have that kind of time to spend in one place!

I recommend spending no less than three full days in Moscow, and ideally closer to five or seven.

Moscow is very spread out, and it can take some time to get from one major point to another. There are also so many places that are nice to just sit back and relax, which is hard to do when you’re in a hurry trying to cram activities into just a few days.

If you only have a week to visit Russia, I’d advise spending all of the time in one city. If you decide to split your time between Moscow and St. Petersburg, I recommend not trying to squeeze in any day trips beyond those two cities.

When Is the Best Time of the Year to Visit Moscow?

There are two different ways to approach this question. Personally, I think the best time to visit Moscow is around Christmas and New Year’s Day. While the weather will be absolutely freezing, Moscow is a surreal winter wonderland in December and January.

We were in Moscow right before Christmas. While it was very cold, you can always bundle up. Exploring the Christmas markets and pop-up ice skating rinks throughout Moscow is one of my favorite memories from anywhere I’ve traveled, and I dream of going back to do it again.

If you aren’t fond of the cold, Moscow is beautiful in the summer. It tends to get pretty cold in the shoulder seasons, so if you want warm weather, you should plan to visit in the summer. Moscow actually gets pretty warm in July and August, and there are a bunch of fantastic places to soak up the sun within the city.

The best time to visit Moscow is either around Christmas or from late May to August.

Is Moscow Safe to Visit?

While Moscow is a truly wonderful city, there’s no denying that visiting Russia comes with risks. As the country is run by an infamous communist dictator, concerns about visiting are valid. While we didn’t experience any sort of threat or negative treatment during our time in Moscow, we visited in a peaceful time.

In our experience, Russia doesn’t seem to detain normal Americans or Westerners to use as pawns. As a regular person, as long as you don’t commit any crimes, there is a slim chance you will run into any issues. However, Russia will not hesitate to enforce its laws against foreigners, and illegal behaviors will likely land you in a very compromising position.

Russia will not hesitate to enforce its laws against foreigners, and illegal behaviors will likely land you in a very compromising position.

To make matters worse, Russia has a bad reputation for gang violence. While the Russian mafia has very little interest in normal Western tourists, they won’t hesitate to pick a fight with anyone who ventures into their sphere of influence. If you seek out illegal substances or activities, you could be a target of the mafia.

If you seek out illegal substances or activities, you could be a target of the mafia.

Finally, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, things are all very different. Russia is currently at war, and there are battles raging within 8 hours of Moscow. While it is still relatively safe to visit, that could change at any time as the war with Ukraine continues.

Is Moscow Worth Visiting?

Without a doubt, Moscow is worth visiting. It is one of the most unique major cities we have ever visited, and we hope to make it back one day. The Russian Orthodox churches are stunning, the city’s history is unlike any other, and the food is to die for.

While many visitors prefer St. Petersburg to Moscow, I think Moscow deserves a lot of hype of its own. Moscow is the beating heart of Russian culture and history, and it’s a place I highly recommend checking out if you have the chance.

That’s all we have for you about Moscow! I hope this post was helpful as you plan your trip to Russia’s capital.

Have you been to Moscow? Or is this your first time visiting? Comment below if you have anything to add to our travel guide!

Hi, I'm Greg. I'm an avid traveler who has traveled to over 50 countries all around the world with my wife and kids. I've lived in Italy, Mexico, China, and the United States, and I dream of moving abroad again in the future. With this blog, I provide my audience with detailed destination guides to my favorite places and pro-tips to make travel as stress-free as possible.

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