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Asked by elliebob to Hywel, Joseph, Patience, Poonam, Rachael on 21 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
Question: why can only dogs hear that high dog whistle and we cant? is it because our ears are not as umm, i dont know the word? attuned? haha.
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Joseph Cook answered on 16 Jun 2010:
Low frequency sounds seem deep to us, like the bass in a piece of music, and high frequency sounds seem high, like violins and flutes. At very high frequencies, our ears are unable to respond quickly enough to convert the sound into a signal for our brains.
Dog whistles use a frequency that is too high for our ears, but dogs ears can hear at higher frequencies, so they can hear the whistle.
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Dr Hywel Jones answered on 20 Jun 2010:
Our ears detect sound in a mechanical manner and this is converted to an electrical signal that the brain then interprets as sound. Our ears have evolved to respond to only a certain range of frequencies (those that are most useful to us in terms of evolution, such as being able to detect a lion approaching in the dark). Dogs have had different evolutionary pressures applied during their evolution and as such they have developed ears which can detect a different range of frequencies to us. I don’t know why dogs benefit from hearing higher frequency sounds though.
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Comments
Hywel commented on :
Oh, and as you get older you loose the high frequency end of your hearing. Thats why some places use high frequency noise generators to stop groups of teenagers from gathering outside shops etc. because older people cannot hear those frequencies.
emilyhannahugs commented on :
sensitive
elliebob commented on :
yeah outside the bandstand in town theres one, to stop teenagers being round it all the time.