Animal Ears 🐸 How animals hear
Frog hearing range in hertz
Rana catesbeiana
Hearing split in two, tuned to the two notes of its own call.
In short
A Frog hears from about 100 Hz up to 3 kHz, and the pitch it catches best is near 200 Hz. Animal Ears lets you take any sound of yours and hear it exactly as it would.
The American bullfrog's hearing is split into two parts, each tuned to a different note: one near 200 Hz and another above the thousand mark. Coincidence? None at all: they are exactly the two pitches of its own mating call. Its total range runs from 100 to 3,000 Hz, so outside its own species' voice it doesn't hear a great deal. Ears made to measure for a single conversation.
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 | 100 Hz |
|---|---|
| Highest it hears | 3 kHz |
| Hears most clearly | 200 Hz |
| What you hear | 20 Hz – 20 kHz |
Your ears vs a Frog's
It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 3 kHz there is nothing left for it.
Audiogram
| Hertz (Hz) | Hearing threshold |
|---|---|
| 100 Hz | 72 dB |
| 200 Hz | 52 dB |
| 300 Hz | 55 dB |
| 500 Hz | 66 dB |
| 700 Hz | 72 dB |
| 1 kHz | 68 dB |
| 1.4 kHz | 53 dB |
| 1.6 kHz | 54 dB |
| 2 kHz | 66 dB |
| 2.5 kHz | 82 dB |
| 3 kHz | 92 dB |
In-air behavioural audiogram (dB SPL). Bimodal: a low peak ~200–300 Hz (amphibian papilla) and a mid peak ~1.4–1.6 kHz (basilar papilla) matching the two spectral peaks of the mating call.
Can a Frog hear things you can't?
A Frog picks up everything from 100 Hz (the deepest) to 3 kHz (the highest), and hears best around 200 Hz.
It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 3 kHz there is nothing left for it.
Frequently asked questions
What sounds can a Frog hear?
A Frog picks up everything from 100 Hz (the deepest) to 3 kHz (the highest), and hears best around 200 Hz.
Can a Frog hear things you can't?
It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 3 kHz there is nothing left for it.
How does Animal Ears make a sound like a Frog would hear it?
Scientists have measured, pitch by pitch, the quietest volume at which a Frog 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
- Megela-Simmons, A., Moss, C.F. & Daniel, K.M. (1985). Behavioral audiograms of the bullfrog and green tree frog. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 78(4), 1236–1244. doi:10.1121/1.392892
- Fay, R.R. (1988). Hearing in Vertebrates: A Psychophysics Databook. Hill-Fay Associates.
More animals
Goldfish
Top of the class among fish: it comes with a built-in amplifier.
Jumping spider
No ears, yet it hears a wasp across the room... with its legs.
Chameleon
No eardrum: faint hearing, limited to low pitches.
Snake
No eardrum, no ears: it listens to your footsteps by resting its jaw on the ground.
Animal Ears
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