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Ben Underwood, a boy from Elk Grove, California who was diagnosed with retinal cancer at age two and had both eyes removed at age three, taught himself to navigate the world by human echolocation — clicking his tongue and interpreting the returning sound — and could ride a bicycle, skateboard, shoot baskets, and identify parked cars by clicking, until his death from the same cancer on January 19, 2009 at age 16.
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Unbelievable RecordsJul 12, 2026

Ben Underwood, a boy from Elk Grove, California who was diagnosed with retinal cancer at age two and had both eyes removed at age three, taught himself to navigate the world by human echolocation — clicking his tongue and interpreting the returning sound — and could ride a bicycle, skateboard, shoot baskets, and identify parked cars by clicking, until his death from the same cancer on January 19, 2009 at age 16.

The Boy Who Saw With Sound. Ben Underwood lost both eyes at age three. Retinal cancer, both removed, no prosthetics that worked. So he taught himself to click his tongue. The echoes told him where walls and cars sat. He rode a bike. He skateboarded. He shot hoops. Doctors called it human echolocation. Ben just called it hearing.

Source
https://bendbulletin.com/2009/01/22/blind-youth-who-had-echolocation-ability-dies-at-16/
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