Animal Ears 🐡 How animals hear
Dragonfish hearing range in hertz
Stomiidae
A listener from the abyss: we know so little that this is an honest hypothesis.
In short
A Dragonfish hears from about 50 Hz up to 1 kHz, and the pitch it catches best is near 150 Hz. Animal Ears lets you take any sound of yours and hear it exactly as it would.
We know almost nothing about the deep-sea dragonfish's hearing, and it's only fair to say so: this curve is a reasoned estimate based on other deep-water fish. Most likely it senses very low water movement, 50 to 1,000 Hz, rather than sound pressure. In a place where not a single ray of light arrives, noticing that something is moving nearby may be worth more than seeing it.
Hertz (Hz)
Which pitches it hears
Hertz count how many times per second a sound vibrates. Few vibrations = low (the rumble of thunder, about 30 Hz). Many vibrations = high (a microwave beeping, about 3,000 Hz). And ‘1 kHz' is just shorthand for 1,000 Hz. You hear, roughly, from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
A low sound rumbles (think thunder); a high sound squeals (think a mosquito). These three numbers mark how far down this animal goes, how far up it goes, and which pitch it hears most clearly of all.
| Lowest it hears | 50 Hz |
|---|---|
| Highest it hears | 1 kHz |
| Hears most clearly | 150 Hz |
| What you hear | 20 Hz – 20 kHz |
Your ears vs a Dragonfish's
It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 1 kHz there is nothing left for it.
Audiogram
| Hertz (Hz) | Hearing threshold |
|---|---|
| 50 Hz | 106 dB |
| 100 Hz | 100 dB |
| 150 Hz | 98 dB |
| 200 Hz | 99 dB |
| 300 Hz | 104 dB |
| 400 Hz | 111 dB |
| 600 Hz | 121 dB |
| 800 Hz | 131 dB |
| 1 kHz | 141 dB |
RANGE-DERIVED: no dragonfish audiogram exists; this curve is inferred from generalist deep-sea teleost hearing and inner-ear morphology. Deep-sea fishes lack swim-bladder specialisations and mostly detect low-frequency PARTICLE MOTION — values are illustrative only.
Can a Dragonfish hear things you can't?
A Dragonfish picks up everything from 50 Hz (the deepest) to 1 kHz (the highest), and hears best around 150 Hz.
It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 1 kHz there is nothing left for it.
Frequently asked questions
What sounds can a Dragonfish hear?
A Dragonfish picks up everything from 50 Hz (the deepest) to 1 kHz (the highest), and hears best around 150 Hz.
Can a Dragonfish hear things you can't?
It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 1 kHz there is nothing left for it.
How does Animal Ears make a sound like a Dragonfish would hear it?
Scientists have measured, pitch by pitch, the quietest volume at which a Dragonfish starts to hear each sound. We take that curve and apply it to your recording like a giant equaliser: we turn up the pitches the animal hears beautifully and turn down or remove the ones that simply don't exist for it. The result gets close to what it would notice... but it still arrives through your ears.
Hertz (Hz)
Hertz count how many times per second a sound vibrates. Few vibrations = low (the rumble of thunder, about 30 Hz). Many vibrations = high (a microwave beeping, about 3,000 Hz). And ‘1 kHz' is just shorthand for 1,000 Hz. You hear, roughly, from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
Where these numbers come from
- Buran, B.N., Deng, X. & Popper, A.N. (2005). Structural variation in the inner ears of four deep-sea elopomorph fishes. J. Morphology, 265, 215–225. doi:10.1002/jmor.10355
- Popper, A.N. (1980). SEM study of the sacculus and lagena in deep-sea fishes. Am. J. Anatomy, 157, 115–136. doi:10.1002/aja.1001570203
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No eardrum, no ears: it listens to your footsteps by resting its jaw on the ground.
Animal Ears
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