Cat Hearing
Cat hearing is very exceptional. The outer ear which is controlled by 30 different muscles rotates like mini-satellite dishes picking up sounds and funneling them to the inner ear and the brain. Your cat can independently rotate each ear 180 degrees and position one ear or both in the direction of the sound. The cat’s ability to pinpoint sound is very outstanding. Cats can hear frequencies well beyond the human range of hearing. These are in the range of much higher frequencies that humans can hear. This has a lot to do with why your cat is able to find a mouse in your house. The sound that many rodents make is in the ultrasonic range, beyond our hearing but your cat can easily pick them up. Kittens also make ultrasonic vocalizations, enabling mother cats to find them. Cats have an amazing capacity to localize specific sounds. They can hear and differentiate sounds three feet away whose sources are only three inches apart. This enables the cat to pick up specific vibrations like ultrasonic sounds of mice and rats in a busy street or ally.
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