Our ears. Miracles, pasted right to the sides of our heads.
Our ears were made for a few different purposes, like holding up our eyeglasses and sporting our favorite dangling bobbles. But their main function in our lives is to hear. Like Horton, with his little tiny Whos.
What a miracle and gift it is to hear.
There are so many beautiful sounds in life. Like that little noise, the record makes, when it finishes playing a Mariah Carey tune. Or the sound of popcorn popping. Or when a baby lets out a belly laugh.
But some sounds are not so good. We have to hear those too. When a person wails in sadness. When a gun is fired. When your favorite mug hits the driveway and shatters.
Our ears can hear the very quiet things if we listen carefully.
Conversely, they do not have to strain to hear other noises.
But how loud is too loud?
Human hearing has two components: frequency and intensity.
As far as the frequency of sound waves goes, the human hearing range falls between 20 Hz to 20 kHz. That means how high or low a sound might be. Like, we can’t hear dog whistles. It is out of our frequency.
As for intensity, humans can tolerate sounds up to about 120 decibels. That would be about the same as a rock concert. It is not so good for our hearing to expose ourselves to sounds at that level regularly.
According to National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, sounds below 70 decibels, even after long exposure, are unlikely to cause hearing loss. However, long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss.
Here’s a few biggies:
190 db: Gunfire
180 dB: Rocket launch
130dB: A plane taking off 100m away
120 dB: Fireworks
110 dB: Night club music
97 dB: Fire alarm
94 dB: Lawnmower
Those are all manmade things.
But loud sounds occur naturally too, especially when it comes to animals.
Here are the seven loudest animals on Earth:
7. Cicadas
The greengrocer cicada can produce sounds nearly loud enough to burst a human eardrum.
Two species of this bug — the greengrocer cicada and the yellow Monday cicada — are the loudest sound-producing insects. The males of both species can make sounds up to 120 decibels. Their “noise” comes from vibrations in their bellies.
6. Kakapo
Part of the parrot family. They are found in both Australia and New Zealand. The mating call can be as loud as 132 decibels.
They have other things about them, too. Nocturnal. Flightless. Heaviest parrot species in the world. And. The longest-lived bird, as they have been known to reach 100 years old.
5. Howler Monkeys
Howler monkeys are about the size of a small dog. But boy, do they make noise. Their low-pitched noises can reach 150 decibels. And it’s no wonder they can make such earth-shattering sounds. Their vocal folds are three times longer than a human’s. But they are ten times smaller than us.
4. Greater Bulldog Bat
The greater bulldog bat uses echolocation, which is super loud to its prey. Thankfully, our human ears can’t hear it. We here in Ohio don’t see them either, as they are native to the Caribbean.
3. Blue Whale
The blue whale is the largest mammal on Earth. It is also one of the loudest. I guess size matters. The blue whale’s call can reach 188 decibels. If we lived underwater in the sea, we’d be able to hear the song of the blue whale as far as 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) away.
2. Tiger Pistol Shrimp
The tiger pistol shrimp doesn’t make any sounds, but the bubble it makes with its claw generates a shockwave that can surpass 200 decibels. When these bubbles implode, they go big, big boom.
And. The number one noise maker? It is none other than:
1. Sperm Whale
Sperm whales produce one of the loudest sounds, with their clicks and calls coming in as high as 230 decibels.
Hearing is a beautiful thing. Our world would be much different without sound.
Today, may we all notice the excellent sounds of this place, in every space, of our big, vast Universe.
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“Every sound is born out of silence, dies back into silence, and during its moments in between, given shape by the quality of that silence.”
–Eckhart Tolle
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“The sound of the rain needs no translation.”
— Alan Watts
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“The earth has music for those who listen.”
— George Santayana
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Oh. Yoooo Hooooooo. A big yoo hoo.
