During echolocation, most bats use their vocal cords and larynx to produce calls, much in the same way that humans use their vocal cords and larynx to speak. Different species of bats have distinct calls, but in general, bat sounds are described as “clicks."

Bats are social mammals that use a repertoire of vocalizations to communicate with each other and to move around in the environment. To detect obstacles and prey in their environment, bats emit a series of ultrasounds, very high-pitched sounds above 20,000 Hz, beyond our range of hearing.

Bats make sounds that are two or three times higher than humans can hear. When the flying mammals use echolocation, humans are only sometimes able to make out very quiet clicks. Slowed down, the clicks are actually chirps with a distinct tonal progression.

Bats make an ultrasonic noise that’s often hard to hear by humans. This squeaking or chirping sound, which might resemble more of a clicking noise, is actually a form of echolocation. This helps the bat hunt for nearby insects, as it bounces the sounds off their bodies and helps them communicate with other bats.

Bats can be broadly characterized by their echolocation calls as shouting bats and whispering bats. Big brown bats and little brown bats are shouters and produce sounds (if we could hear them) of 110 decibels or similar to the loudness of a smoke alarm.