Killer Whales have a well developed and acute sense of hearing. Their own clicking sound travels through the water and bounces off objects it encounters. The sound is then bounced back to the whale in the form of an echo. The whales can determine many factors from listening to the echo, including the size, shape, location and distance of objects. Killer whales also have acute vision, both in an out of the water. However, they have no apparent sense of smell at all.

Baleen whales also have a well developed and acute sense of hearing, although there is some evidence to suggest that they hear lower frequency better than higher frequency sounds.