Blind can learn to navigate like bats, scientists reveal

BLIND people can learn to navigate like bats by "seeing" objects from sounds reflected off them, a study has shown.

They make clicking noises with their mouths and listen to the returning echoes to make sense of their environment.

A few are so adept at the skill that they use it to go mountain biking, play ball games or explore unknown places.

The echoes are processed using the visual part of the brain - not the auditory region that receives sound signals from the ears, the scientists have discovered..

Dr Mel Goodale, senior scientist at the University of Western Ontario, said: "It is clear that echolocation enables blind people to do things that are otherwise thought to be impossible without vision, and in this way it can provide blind and vision-impaired people with a high degree of independence in their daily lives."

The findings have been published in the online journal Public Library of Science One.