Can blind people learn to navigate using echolocation like bats?

The answer

Human echolocation involves producing tongue clicks and interpreting the returning echoes to perceive spatial information. Daniel Kish, blind since age 13 months, developed this ability to such a degree that he mountain bikes and hikes independently. A 2011 study in PLoS ONE using fMRI imaging showed that expert echolocators process click echoes in their visual cortex - the same brain region sighted people use for vision - rather than auditory areas. Research at Durham University found that trained echolocators can detect objects as thin as 0.5 centimeters at distances over 2 meters. A 2021 study demonstrated that sighted people could learn basic echolocation in just 10 weeks of training, with both young and older adults showing comparable learning rates, suggesting this ability is latent in all humans.