echolocation

Physiological process for locating distant or invisible objects (such as prey) by emitting sound waves that are reflected back to the emitter by the objects. Echolocation is used by an animal to orient itself, avoid obstacles, find food, and interact socially. Most bats employ echolocation, as do most, if not all, toothed whales (but apparently no baleen whales), a few shrews, and two kinds of birds (oilbirds and certain cave swiftlets). Echolocation pulses consist of short bursts of sound at frequencies ranging from about 1,000 Hz in birds to at least 200,000 Hz in whales. Bats use frequencies from about 30,000 to about 120,000 Hz.

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• Acoustic location, the general use of sound to locate objects
• Animal echolocation, non-human animals emitting sound waves and listening to the echo in order to locate objects or navigate
• Human echolocation, the use by people of sound to navigate
• Sonar (sound navigation and ranging), the use of sound to navigate or to locate other watercraft, usually by submarines
• Echo sounding, listening to the echo of sound pulses to measure the distance to the bottom of the sea, a special case of Sonar
• Medical ultrasonography, the use of ultrasound echos to look inside the body
• Echolocation (album), a 2001 album by Fruit Bats

See also

• Radar, locating objects by detecting the echo of emitted radio waves
• Time to Echolocate, a 2005 album by The Ebb and Flow