Why do echoes occur

How long between the time you make a noise and the time the echo occurs depends on how far away you are to the surface. One could theoretically tell how far away an object is and how fast it is moving by an echo. This is called echolocation and bats use echoes to find moths while flying around at night.

A bat uses echolocation by sending out a clicking or chirping sound, which echoes off any objects that are near. Bats have large ears that are very sensitive to sounds in certain wavelengths. Their brains are also able to process the sound of the echo coming off a flying moth to determine how far away it is, its size, and which direction and how fast it is flying. Using this echolocation, the bat finds moths easily in the pitch dark. Another animal that relies on echolocation is the dolphin.

Reverberation is the reflection of sound waves created by the superposition of such echoes. An echo can only be heard by humans when the distance between the source of the sound and the reflecting body is more than 50 feet in distance.

A reverberation can occur when a sound wave is reflected off a nearby surface. An echo is usually clear and can be easily distinguished because of the distance and time the sound wave travels. Reverberations do not usually have enough distance or time to travel which means they can pile up on each other making it very difficult to comprehend. Phone required. Preferred Location required - see options above Please leave this field empty. Your Message. Williamsburg Dr. The site information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.

To receive personalized advice or treatment, schedule an appointment. Talk To Us. It could start with the moving string of a guitar or the vocal folds in your voice box that move when you speak or sing. Read more: Curious Kids: Why are we ticklish? When sound travelling in air we call this a sound wave hits a hard flat surface, like a tiled bathroom wall, most of it bounces back.

Maybe this is why people like to sing in the shower. But to get a really good echo, that sounds the same as the original sound, we need a very big bathroom, or another very big, hard-walled place — like a valley or a canyon! The vibration of his lips makes the sound, which bounces back from the hard wall of rock on the other side of the valley:. For a sound to bounce back and make an echo, there has to be a lot of space between the sound source and the thing wall or mountain that it hits and bounces back.