Seven-year-old blind boy 'uses echoes to see'

Blind Lucas Murray has been nicknamed Batboy - after learning to "see" using his ears. The seven-year-old is believed to be the first in Britain to use echoes to visualise his surroundings.

He clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth and discovers where objects are based on how the sound bounces back. The amazing technique allows him to run around his playground, play basketball and even go rock climbing.

Lucas, who was born blind, said: "I really like the clicking system but it was quite hard to learn. "I love basketball. I can use my click to find out where the hoop is myself and throw the ball through."



The echolocation technique is similar to that used by bats and dolphins. Lucas can work out how far away an object is by the time it takes the echo to return. Its intensity tells him the object's size, and which ear the sound reaches first tells him its position.

He can even work out movement through pitch - with the echo lower if the object is moving away and higher if it is getting closer.The lad also uses a cane and has a great memory for places he has already "scanned" with his ears.

He was taught by blind Californian Daniel Kish, 41, who founded the World Access for the Blind charity.

With quite remarkable news video. Update: There's another video here.