Can tortoises hear and respond to hearing.

[ryan57]

Plus my brother only has 2%hearing in one ear. He also has brain damage in the hearing center of his brain. Yet his other senses are so enhanced that it's hard to sneak up on him too. So I can understand a critter missing 1 sense yet still seeming like they can do the missing one.

I am an audio and acoustics professional in that I design audio systems and recording studios etc. for a living. That said, both of our sulcatas respond immediately to visual cues of course. My wife and I have noticed that we absolutely CAN wake them up using the intercoms and cameras in the house with our voice and if I'm talking to her on the phone and she's near the big one, he begins looking around for me. I can take video as evidence. Also, he absolutely hated any high pitched motor, string trimmer, vacuum, Dremel, drill, etc. and one time the security alarm went off and he started thrashing his head left and right trying to escape it. They most definitely CAN hear. If you think they can't hear test your smoke detectors in the same room.

For those of you where physics is not your strong suit, sound moves through air and when it hits a solid the wave creates resonance in that solid. That is why there is a sound transmission coefficient rating in all construction materials. This is why those railings in museums with audio work when you rest your elbows on the rail and your fingers in your ear. The transducer on the rail creates a wave that becomes mechanically connected to your ear when you plug your ear with your finger.

Now... the frequency of a tortoises hearing begins to drop off at 1K which makes sense. He does not hear bird chirping. I have witnessed this. But what is the frequency center of the theoretical maximum recording level? 1K. What is "A" weighting with regard to a real time analyzer? Right. centered on 1K. This is also why they would be able to hear a phone conversation over a cell phone. Just like a triangle. You can hear someone hitting a triangle at 1K in a loud concert or over an entire orchestra.

This must be why their hearing was designed in that way.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

My Russian hates the sound of our lawn mover. He paces and bops his head when he hears it.

 

[Renee_H]

I am an audio and acoustics professional in that I design audio systems and recording studios etc. for a living. That said, both of our sulcatas respond immediately to visual cues of course. My wife and I have noticed that we absolutely CAN wake them up using the intercoms and cameras in the house with our voice and if I'm talking to her on the phone and she's near the big one, he begins looking around for me. I can take video as evidence. Also, he absolutely hated any high pitched motor, string trimmer, vacuum, Dremel, drill, etc. and one time the security alarm went off and he started thrashing his head left and right trying to escape it. They most definitely CAN hear. If you think they can't hear test your smoke detectors in the same room.

For those of you where physics is not your strong suit, sound moves through air and when it hits a solid the wave creates resonance in that solid. That is why there is a sound transmission coefficient rating in all construction materials. This is why those railings in museums with audio work when you rest your elbows on the rail and your fingers in your ear. The transducer on the rail creates a wave that becomes mechanically connected to your ear when you plug your ear with your finger.

Now... the frequency of a tortoises hearing begins to drop off at 1K which makes sense. He does not hear bird chirping. I have witnessed this. But what is the frequency center of the theoretical maximum recording level? 1K. What is "A" weighting with regard to a real time analyzer? Right. centered on 1K. This is also why they would be able to hear a phone conversation over a cell phone. Just like a triangle. You can hear someone hitting a triangle at 1K in a loud concert or over an entire orchestra.

This must be why their hearing was designed in that way.

So they could then hear our voice over the phone better than if we were in the same room with them? I’m not being facetious. The intercom/phone concept is really interesting. Now if I could develop a sound based signal to my tort that it was time to head to her box for the night. Buzz her on the intercom and have her head that way on her own that would be great. But now I’m talking about two different things here.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

So they could then hear our voice over the phone better than if we were in the same room with them? I’m not being facetious. The intercom/phone concept is really interesting. Now if I could develop a sound based signal to my tort that it was time to head to her box for the night. Buzz her on the intercom and have her head that way on her own that would be great. But now I’m talking about two different things here.

"Bzzz. Ms. Leonora, please proceed to your night quarters immediately. I repeat, immediately" ... Maybe Tom can tell if tortoises can be trained to do that. But as he still uses Rubbermaid cart, probably it's too much hassle.

 

[ryan57]

"Bzzz. Ms. Leonora, please proceed to your night quarters immediately. I repeat, immediately" ... Maybe Tom can tell if tortoises can be trained to do that. But as he still uses Rubbermaid cart, probably it's too much hassle.

Chefdenoel said it best when your tortoises think, “Yeah, you take real good care of me and all and I love the hot soaks but when I’m outside doing tortoise stuff you can kindly **** off.” Let’s call that the kid factor. LOL.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Chefdenoel said it best when your tortoises think, “Yeah, you take real good care of me and all and I love the hot soaks but when I’m outside doing tortoise stuff you can kindly **** off.” Let’s call that the kid factor. LOL.

So true )))

 

[mark1]

So they could then hear our voice over the phone better than if we were in the same room with them? I’m not being facetious. The intercom/phone concept is really interesting. Now if I could develop a sound based signal to my tort that it was time to head to her box for the night. Buzz her on the intercom and have her head that way on her own that would be great. But now I’m talking about two different things here.

300 million years of evolution, what would you suppose is the purpose of this organ ???

 

[TammyJ]

I still talk to my Tortoise.😊 Sound waves have vibration too in the air.🐢 you can send him good vibrations 😘

What I think is this. They hear us all the time. They are tired of all the different sounds we make. Talking, singing, whistling, coughing, sneezing, hooting, wheezing, slamming doors, banging pots, drilling holes, cleaning spots...! They have heard it all before. And more. So. They hear us just fine, no need to react. It's when they SEE us... that's when they react. Oh please! Let it be food this time and not ANOTHER tummy rub. Ok???

 

[TammyJ]

My Russian hates the sound of our lawn mover. He paces and bops his head when he hears it.

He is dancing. He loves it.

 

[Renee_H]

300 million years of evolution, what would you suppose is the purpose of this organ ???

To hear what is essential for survival and procreation…

So now the narrative has changed. It’s not that they can’t hear us, it’s that they have seen and heard a lot more than we have and can’t be bothered with our lack of experience on life or death matters or otherwise and are completely disinterested in our ideas about what they need. “Just bring the food you stupid human”

 

[mark1]

To hear what is essential for survival and procreat

what would that be???

 

[Renee_H]

what would that be???

Detecting vibrations alerting them to predators and environmental changes. Communication with potential mates.

 

[mark1]

Detecting vibrations alerting them to predators and environmental changes. Communication with potential mates.

so they hear?? what is their range of hearing??

 

[Renee_H]

so they hear?? what is their range of hearing??

Low frequency sounds/vibrations that allow them to detect predators and other tortoises. Sounds below 1k whereas we hear 20-20k we hear best between 2,000-5,000hz whereas they hear best at 200-500hz. The human voice on average is 90-255hz. Mens voices are on the lower end and women’s and children on the higher. So based on this they’d hear a woman’s voice over a man’s. We are conditioned to listen to the human voice. I also think they are conditioned to hear more specific sounds and may not tune into human voices unless they decide it’s essential for some reason. We tune out numerous sounds so I wonder if the torts that appear to listen to human voices vs those that don’t is impacted in how they are kept. Do they rely on the sound for the things they need to survive? Or are they set up in a way that allows them to be self reliant and unknowingly have no need to pay attention to it.

 

[ryan57]

Detecting vibrations alerting them to predators and environmental changes. Communication with potential mates.

They do hear.

so they hear?? what is their range of hearing??

10hz (a rumble) to 3-5khz with a steep roll off at or just under 1k.

 

[ryan57]

Low frequency sounds/vibrations that allow them to detect predators and other tortoises. Sounds below 1k whereas we hear 20-20k we hear best between 2,000-5,000hz whereas they hear best at 200-500hz. The human voice on average is 90-255hz. Mens voices are on the lower end and women’s and children on the higher. So based on this they’d hear a woman’s voice over a man’s. We are conditioned to listen to the human voice. I also think they are conditioned to hear more specific sounds and may not tune into human voices unless they decide it’s essential for some reason. We tune out numerous sounds so I wonder if the torts that appear to listen to human voices vs those that don’t is impacted in how they are kept. Do they rely on the sound for the things they need to survive? Or are they set up in a way that allows them to be self reliant and unknowingly have no need to pay attention to it.

Correction. The lowest fundamental of a male voice is 80hz with sibilance centered at 5k. Much wider than presented.

That’s why we need to sample analog waveforms at at least 22k. The top threshold of human hearing. This is why the minimum digital sample rate is 44.1 which means we take wave samples at twice the highest freq of the range of a human. You can record to analog tape well into the 50k range and there are microphones with flat response above 30k used for developing speakers and cabinets.

 

[ryan57]

From a purely design perspective I would expect that their ability to detect lower frequencies better would be due to the fact that sound travels further and faster through solids than air. This would give a slower moving animal an advantage in moving out of the way of a stampede or other natural occurrence that could be dangerous.

Remember how you can hear a train by putting your ear on the tracks many, many miles away?

 

[mark1]

Low frequency sounds/vibrations that allow them to detect predators and other tortoises. Sounds below 1k whereas we hear 20-20k we hear best between 2,000-5,000hz whereas they hear best at 200-500hz. The human voice on average is 90-255hz. Mens voices are on the lower end and women’s and children on the higher. So based on this they’d hear a woman’s voice over a man’s. I also think they are conditioned to hear more specific sounds and may not tune into human voices unless they decide it’s essential for some reason. We tune out numerous sounds so I wonder if the torts that appear to listen to human voices vs those that don’t is impacted in how they are kept. Do they rely on the sound for the things they need to survive? Or are they set up in a way that allows them to be self reliant and unknowingly have no need to pay attention to it.

this has all been done , a number of times , tortoises respond to frequencies from 10hz-180hz .......

if this is true,

and this is true,


"The average man’s speaking voice, for example, typically has a fundamental frequency between 85 Hz and 155 Hz. A woman’s speech range is about 165 Hz to 255 Hz, and a child’s voice typically ranges from 250 Hz to 300 Hz and higher."

what would be the logical conclusion?????

 

[Renee_H]

this has all been done , a number of times , tortoises respond to frequencies from 10hz-180hz .......

if this is true,

and this is true,


"The average man’s speaking voice, for example, typically has a fundamental frequency between 85 Hz and 155 Hz. A woman’s speech range is about 165 Hz to 255 Hz, and a child’s voice typically ranges from 250 Hz to 300 Hz and higher."

what would be the logical conclusion?????

They hear. But like I said before we hear a LOT more than we realize we hear because we are conditioned to listen for specific sounds and tuned out to others. So I continue to wonder if this is why many are led to believe in practice their torts don’t hear.

 

[ryan57]

this has all been done , a number of times , tortoises respond to frequencies from 10hz-180hz .......

if this is true,

and this is true,


"The average man’s speaking voice, for example, typically has a fundamental frequency between 85 Hz and 155 Hz. A woman’s speech range is about 165 Hz to 255 Hz, and a child’s voice typically ranges from 250 Hz to 300 Hz and higher."

what would be the logical conclusion?????

These frequency ranges of human speech are wrong. Not stating a personal opinion. I am a credentialed professional.