He was involved in an accident as a child where his eyes came in contact with radioactive chemicals, effectively blinding him though it did enhance his other senses (smell, hearing and touch) to superhuman-levels. If he concentrates hard enough, he is able to hear a person's cry for help from blocks away. Like Toph Beifong, he can use his super-hearing to detect a person's heartbeat as well as minute changes of their breath-rate and tone of voice, thus also becoming a human lie-detector. Also like Toph, he uses his abilities to his advantage in combat.