echolocation

/ˈɛkoʊˈloʊˌkeɪʃən/

/ɛkəʊləʊˈkeɪʃən/

Echolocation is what some animals use to locate objects with sound rather than sight. Bats, for example, use echolocation to find food and avoid flying into trees in the dark.

Echolocation involves making a sound and determining what objects are nearby based on its echos. Many animals use echolocation, including dolphins and whales, and humans do as well. Some blind people use taps or clicks and the resulting sound waves to navigate, and sonar uses echolocation to steer submarines through deep, dark water. The noun echolocation dates from the mid-twentieth century, a combination of echo, from the Greek ekhe, "sound," and location, with the Latin root locus, "a place."

Definitions of echolocation

1. noun

   determining the location of something by measuring the time it takes for an echo to return from it
   synonyms: echo sounding

   type of:

   fix, localisation, localization, locating, location

   a determination of the place where something is