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A cat’s ear is not only responsible for listening but balance also, however in this article we will only be looking more closely at hearing. The most visible part of ear is called the „pinna“ which evolved to be perfect for hunting with the ability to locate and identify noises. Our feline friends have a total 30 sets of muscles that can rotate its pinna up to 180 degrees! Just for comparison, humans have just 6 sets of muscles.
A cat’s ear can amplify up to 2 to 3 times the sound waves they hear. With us humans, we have a very similar low end of the Hertz (Hz) scale, but cats can also hear much more from the upper range (up to 64kHz) which is 1,6 octaves above humans and 1 octave above dogs. Dolphins can hear just a little more.
- Cats can hear at distances 4 to 5 times farther away than humans.
Fascinating is their ability to recognise even the tiniest variances in sound. They can differ between one tenth of a tone which helps them to identify the type and size of their prey. The location of the prey is known very precisely to the level of a few inches in the range of 3 feet (91cm). It is not only the reason why cats are so successful when hunting, but also their ability to recognise the mood of humans or communicate with other animals.
- You can try a cat hearing test by asking a friend to hold a click ballpoint pen in each hand and start clicking. Will you be able to recognise which ballpoint pen clicked? Ask your friend to increase distance from you.
Deafness of white cats
Around 40% of white cats are deaf in both ears. Blue eyed, white cats are even more likely to be deaf than cats with one blue eye. Deafness mostly occurs in the same side ear as the blue eye.
