Humans Can Learn to Echolocate in Just 10 Weeks, And It Rewires The Brain

Key Points:

• A 2021 study from Durham University demonstrated that both blind and sighted people can learn echolocation using verbal clicks after just 10 weeks of training, highlighting the accessibility of this skill.
• A follow-up study published in Cerebral Cortex found that this echolocation training induces functional and structural changes in the primary visual (V1) and auditory (A1) cortices of both blind and sighted adults, showing brain plasticity beyond higher-order sensory areas.
• The research suggests that the ability of the primary visual cortex to process sound echoes is a normal feature of the adult human brain, regardless of visual status, although some structural brain changes differ between blind and sighted individuals.
• A 2025 study comparing the brains of echolocating dolphins and non-echolocating baleen whales revealed that dolphins have stronger cerebellar connections, indicating that echolocation-related brain adaptations may involve sensory-motor integration centers rather than just auditory regions.
• These findings collectively advance understanding of how echolocation shapes brain structure and function in humans and animals, emphasizing the brain's capacity to integrate multiple senses and adapt through both evolution and training.