Audiogram of the domestic cat (Felis catus)
Data from:
Heffner, R.S., and Heffner, H.E. (1985) Hearing range of the domestic cat. Hearing Research, 19, 85-88. two animals
Neff, W.D., and Hind, J.E. (1955) Auditory thresholds of the cat. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 27, 480-483. three animals
Absolute thresholds (in dB re 2 µN/m2) for domestic cats
|
Frequency (in kHz) |
Thresholds (in dB) |
Average |
|
|
Heffner & Heffner |
Neff & Hind |
||
|
.045 |
75 |
— |
75 |
|
.063 |
52 |
48 |
50 |
|
.125 |
36 |
32 |
34 |
|
.250 |
22 |
10 |
16 |
|
.500 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
|
1 |
3.5 |
-3 |
0 |
|
2 |
1 |
-9 |
-4 |
|
4 |
1 |
-13 |
-6 |
|
8 |
-3 |
-17 |
-10 |
|
16 |
-2 |
-10 |
-6 |
|
25 |
— |
-2 |
-2 |
|
32 |
3 |
-4 |
-0.5 |
|
45 |
— |
15 |
15 |
|
60, 64 |
31 |
33 |
32 |
|
91 |
80 |
— |
80 |
Lowest and highest frequencies audible at sound
pressure levels (SPL) ranging from 30 to 70 dB SPL
|
SPL (in dB) |
Lowest audible frequency (in kHz) |
Highest audible frequency (in kHz) |
|
70 |
.048 |
85 |
|
60 |
.055 |
79 |
|
50 |
.063 |
73 |
|
40 |
.096 |
68 |
|
30 |
.150 |
60 |
Additional Parameters:
Body weight = 3500 g
Functional interaural distance = 258 µs
(Time required for sound to travel around the head from one auditory meatus to the other.)
Comments: Threshold values taken from original data (Heffner & Heffner), and from published graphs (Neff & Hind).