Welcome to Learning Echolocation
Echolocation is a way of hearing the world: you use the sounds around you — and sounds you make yourself, like a tongue click — to notice walls, openings, trees, and objects before you touch them. Blind people have used it for as long as there have been blind people. This course teaches you how to start.
The lessons were recorded by Nathan, a blind high-school student who uses echolocation every day — walking his neighborhood, exploring parks and playgrounds, and getting himself to school. The course also features Daniel Kish, the orientation and mobility specialist who pioneered the modern teaching of echolocation and coined the term “flash sonar.”
Checking your progress…
Who this course is for
- Blind and low-vision learners of any age who want to learn to navigate by sound.
- Parents and guardians of blind children, who can use these lessons to guide practice sessions. Start with the guide for parents and guardians.
- Teachers and orientation & mobility specialists looking for real, practical listening material.
How the course works
The course opens with a short introduction from Daniel Kish — about five and a half minutes on what echolocation is and where it came from. Listen to that first: the seven lessons unlock once you have finished it. Everything Nathan teaches builds on it.
After that come seven audio lessons, in order. Each lesson page has the recording, the main things to listen for, a practice activity to try in real life, and a full transcript. Every recording was made outdoors or at home with a real binaural recorder — wear headphones so the echoes reach your ears the way they reached Nathan’s.
Work through the lessons in order, and don’t rush. Your ears need time to adjust. A lesson a day, with real-world practice in between, is a good pace. Use the “Mark this lesson complete” button on each page to keep track of where you are — your progress is saved on this device.
Start here
Begin with the Introduction: Daniel Kish on Echolocation
If you use a screen reader and want a quick orientation to how these pages are laid out, read How to use this site. In short: every page has the same landmarks, the lesson content starts at the level-one heading, and you can move between sections by heading.