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Human hearing range: 20 Hz to 20 kHz
The human hearing range is usually given as 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz (20 kHz), a young person’s range: the top end falls from childhood on, so most adults hear well short of 20 kHz. Hearing is most sensitive between about 2,000 and 5,000 Hz, and in loudness runs from 0 dB to a pain threshold near 120 to 140 dB. Dogs hear up to about 45 kHz, cats to 64 kHz or more.
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Hearing ranges compared
| Who | Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Humans, as usually stated | 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz | A young person’s range. The top end falls with age. |
| Humans, LSU table | 64 Hz to 23,000 Hz | The same table’s figure for people, for comparison with the animals below. |
| Dogs | 67 Hz to 45,000 Hz | Which is why a dog whistle works when people hear nothing. |
| Cats | 45 Hz to 64,000 Hz | 48 Hz to 85,000 Hz for sounds at 70 dB, one of the widest ranges of any mammal. |
The limits depend on how loud the test tone is, so different studies give different numbers for the same animal. The LSU table puts humans, dogs and cats side by side, and its author warns against reading too much into small differences between species.
How the range changes with age
The 20 kHz figure belongs to young ears. The range starts to shrink in childhood, and it is the upper limit that goes. Age-related hearing loss tends to take high-pitched sounds, which is why trouble following children and other higher voices is one of its common signs. You can find your own upper limit with the high frequency sound test, which plays fixed tones from 8 kHz to 20 kHz, and the hearing age test, which turns the highest tone you hear into a rough age band. The online hearing test checks the speech range, 250 Hz to 8 kHz, one ear at a time.
The range in decibels
Loudness has a range too. The softest sound a healthy young ear can detect, about 20 micropascals of pressure, is the zero of the decibel scale, 0 dB SPL. At the other end, sound becomes painful somewhere between about 120 and 140 dB. Hearing damage starts far lower: the safe decibel levels page sets out how long each level can be heard safely. Frequency and level are different measurements, a difference the hertz vs decibels page explains.
Below and above the range
Sound below about 20 Hz is infrasound: earthquakes, storms and large animals produce it, and at a high enough level it is felt as pressure or vibration rather than heard as pitch. Sound above about 20 kHz is ultrasound, which dogs and bats hear and medical scanners use.
Can I test my hearing range at home?
Roughly, yes, with headphones and a tone test, but the result is only as good as the equipment. Most phone speakers and cheap earbuds cannot play the very lowest or highest tones, and browsers stop at about 22 to 24 kHz, so a tone you cannot hear may be the device rather than your ears. A home test is a guide, not a hearing assessment; a sudden change, ringing or a difference between your ears is worth a proper test.
What is the normal hearing range?
About 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz for a young person with healthy hearing. That is the figure textbooks give, but the top end starts to fall from childhood, so most adults hear well short of 20,000 Hz.
Which frequencies do humans hear best?
Roughly 2,000 to 5,000 Hz. The ear canal resonates in that band and boosts it, so quiet sounds there are the easiest to detect. Near the ends of the range, at 20 Hz or close to 20 kHz, a sound has to be much louder before you hear it at all.
What is the human hearing range in decibels?
From 0 dB, the softest sound a healthy young ear can detect (a pressure of 20 micropascals), to the threshold of pain, which sources put between about 120 and 140 dB. Long before that, sound above 85 dB can damage hearing with enough exposure.
Can humans hear above 20 kHz?
Practically, no. Sound above about 20,000 Hz is called ultrasound because it lies beyond human hearing. Below about 20 Hz is infrasound, which at a high enough level is felt as pressure or vibration rather than heard as pitch.
Can dogs hear more than humans?
Higher, yes. Dogs hear up to about 45,000 Hz against our 20,000 Hz or so, while their low end, about 67 Hz in LSU’s table, is close to ours.
What is a cat’s hearing range?
About 45 Hz to 64,000 Hz in LSU’s table. A 1985 study that played sounds at 70 dB found 48 Hz to 85,000 Hz, which its authors called one of the broadest hearing ranges among mammals.
Sources: HyperPhysics (Georgia State University), Sensitivity of Human Ear; Hearing range; Threshold of pain; National Institute on Aging, Hearing Loss: A Common Problem for Older Adults; MedlinePlus, Age-related hearing loss; LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, How Well Do Dogs and Other Animals Hear?; Heffner and Heffner (1985), Hearing range of the domestic cat.
