Animal Ears 🐘 How animals hear
Elephant hearing range in hertz
Elephas maximus
It talks in rumbles so deep they travel for miles and you barely feel them.
In short
A Elephant hears from about 17 Hz up to 10.5 kHz, and the pitch it catches best is near 1 kHz. Animal Ears lets you take any sound of yours and hear it exactly as it would.
The elephant looks downwards, not up: it goes down to 17 Hz, below your floor, while it stops at 10,500 Hz, half your ceiling. Those very deep rumbles are infrasound and they come with a huge advantage: they travel enormous distances without fading, so two herds can ‘talk' miles apart. And they don't listen with their ears alone: they also pick vibrations up through their feet and trunk, straight from the ground.
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 | 17 Hz |
|---|---|
| Highest it hears | 10.5 kHz |
| Hears most clearly | 1 kHz |
| What you hear | 20 Hz – 20 kHz |
Your ears vs a Elephant's
Yes: it picks up rumbles so deep you would, at most, feel them in your chest, down to about 17 Hz. Your floor is 20 Hz. It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 10.5 kHz there is nothing left for it.
Audiogram
| Hertz (Hz) | Hearing threshold |
|---|---|
| 16 Hz | 65 dB |
| 17 Hz | 60 dB |
| 32 Hz | 45 dB |
| 63 Hz | 30 dB |
| 125 Hz | 20 dB |
| 250 Hz | 14 dB |
| 500 Hz | 11 dB |
| 1 kHz | 8 dB |
| 2 kHz | 16 dB |
| 4 kHz | 26 dB |
| 8 kHz | 42 dB |
| 10.5 kHz | 60 dB |
| 16 kHz | 80 dB |
17 Hz–10.5 kHz at 60 dB SPL, best ~1 kHz. Hears 16 Hz at 65 dB — the lowest limit of any tested land mammal, matching 14–24 Hz rumbles.
Can a Elephant hear things you can't?
A Elephant picks up everything from 17 Hz (the deepest) to 10.5 kHz (the highest), and hears best around 1 kHz.
Yes: it picks up rumbles so deep you would, at most, feel them in your chest, down to about 17 Hz. Your floor is 20 Hz. It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 10.5 kHz there is nothing left for it.
Frequently asked questions
What sounds can a Elephant hear?
A Elephant picks up everything from 17 Hz (the deepest) to 10.5 kHz (the highest), and hears best around 1 kHz.
Can a Elephant hear things you can't?
Yes: it picks up rumbles so deep you would, at most, feel them in your chest, down to about 17 Hz. Your floor is 20 Hz. It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 10.5 kHz there is nothing left for it.
How does Animal Ears make a sound like a Elephant would hear it?
Scientists have measured, pitch by pitch, the quietest volume at which a Elephant 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.
Infrasound
Sounds so deep your ears no longer register them: below about 20 Hz. Rather than hearing them, you'd feel a tremor in your chest, like a heavy lorry going past. Elephants and pigeons do sense them, even from miles away.
Where these numbers come from
- Heffner, R.S. & Heffner, H.E. (1982). Hearing in the elephant. J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol., 96(6), 926–944. doi:10.1037/0735-7036.96.6.926
- Payne, K.B. et al. (1986). Infrasonic calls of the Asian elephant. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 18, 297–301. doi:10.1007/BF00300007
More animals
Raccoon
Its broad in-air range reaches 40,000 Hz, while its most sensitive measured point sits near 1,000 Hz.
Rabbit
Its ears are giant funnels: they gather danger long before it comes into view.
Horse
Ears that swivel 180° independently: it listens behind its back without moving.
Goat
It hears ultrasound, yet it's sharpest exactly where a kid's bleat sits.
Animal Ears
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