Echolocation As you can imagine, bats spend a lot of time hanging upside down in their caves. They have adapted to this peculiar living arrangement. When a bat wants to fly to a certain place, it uses the echolocation technique to navigate. They do this by sending out a high-frequency sound pulse. Some bats create sounds using their mouths which they hold open as they fly. Others create sounds through their noses. When the sound pulse bounces off an object, like a cave wall, the bounce or echo comes back to the bat. The bat's clever navigation lets it know exactly how far away that object is. In addition, their large ear flaps help them to gather and direct sound towards their eardrums.