Animal Ears 🦎 How animals hear
Gecko hearing range in hertz
Gekko gecko
The best ears among lizards, tuned precisely to its own shout.
In short
A Gecko hears from about 100 Hz up to 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 tokay gecko has some of the finest ears in the lizard world: 100 to 5,000 Hz, with its sweet spot at 1,000 Hz. It comes nowhere near your highs, but it doesn't need to: that band is exactly where its own calls sit, a ‘to-KAY' so powerful you can hear it several rooms away. Ears made to measure for its own voice.
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 | 5 kHz |
| Hears most clearly | 1 kHz |
| What you hear | 20 Hz – 20 kHz |
Your ears vs a Gecko's
It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 5 kHz there is nothing left for it.
Audiogram
| Hertz (Hz) | Hearing threshold |
|---|---|
| 100 Hz | 55 dB |
| 200 Hz | 40 dB |
| 400 Hz | 25 dB |
| 600 Hz | 15 dB |
| 800 Hz | 10 dB |
| 1 kHz | 8 dB |
| 1.6 kHz | 12 dB |
| 2 kHz | 20 dB |
| 3 kHz | 35 dB |
| 4 kHz | 52 dB |
| 5 kHz | 66 dB |
Airborne thresholds (dB re 20 µPa) from neurophysiological data; the Tokay is among the most sensitive lizard ears, best ~0.6–2 kHz.
Can a Gecko hear things you can't?
A Gecko picks up everything from 100 Hz (the deepest) to 5 kHz (the highest), and hears best around 1 kHz.
It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 5 kHz there is nothing left for it.
Frequently asked questions
What sounds can a Gecko hear?
A Gecko picks up everything from 100 Hz (the deepest) to 5 kHz (the highest), and hears best around 1 kHz.
Can a Gecko hear things you can't?
It does miss the highs you can hear, though: above about 5 kHz there is nothing left for it.
How does Animal Ears make a sound like a Gecko would hear it?
Scientists have measured, pitch by pitch, the quietest volume at which a Gecko 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
- Sams-Dodd, F. & Capranica, R.R. (1994). Representation of acoustic signals in the eighth nerve of the Tokay gecko. Hearing Research, 76, 16–30. doi:10.1016/0378-5955(94)90083-3
- Manley, G.A. (2002). Evolution of the hearing organ of lizards. J. Neurobiol., 53, 202–211. doi:10.1002/neu.10115
More animals
Crocodile
A mother who digs out the nest the moment she hears her young peeping.
Chameleon
No eardrum: faint hearing, limited to low pitches.
Sea turtle
It hears underwater and only lows: the highs go straight past it.
Snake
No eardrum, no ears: it listens to your footsteps by resting its jaw on the ground.
Animal Ears
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