Ultrasonic hearing explained

Ultrasonic hearing is a recognised auditory effect which allows humans to perceive sounds of a much higher frequency than would ordinarily be audible using the inner ear, usually by stimulation of the base of the cochlea through bone conduction. Normal human hearing is recognised as having an upper bound of 15–28 kHz,^[1] depending on the person.

Ultrasonic sinusoids as high as 120 kHz have been reported as successfully perceived. Two competing theories are proposed to explain this effect. The first asserts that ultrasonic sounds excite the inner hair cells of the cochlea basal turn, which are responsive to high frequency sounds.^[2] The second proposes that ultrasonic signals resonate the brain and are modulated down to frequencies that the cochlea can then detect.^[3]

Researchers Tsutomu Oohashi et al. have coined the term hypersonic effect to describe the results of their controversial study supporting audibility of ultrasonics.^[4]

By modulating speech signals onto an ultrasonic carrier, intelligible speech has also been perceived with a high degree of clarity, especially in areas of high ambient noise. Deatherage states that what humans experience as ultrasonic perception may have been a necessary precursor in the evolution of echolocation in marine mammals.^[5]

See also

• Hypersonic effect

Notes and References

1. Ashihara. Kaoru. 2007-09-01. Hearing thresholds for pure tones above 16kHz. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 122. 3. EL52–EL57. 2007ASAJ..122L..52A. 10.1121/1.2761883. 17927307. 0001-4966. The absolute threshold usually starts to increase sharply when the signal frequency exceeds about 15 kHz. ... The present results show that some humans can perceive tones up to at least 28 kHz when their level exceeds about 100 dB SPL.. free.
2. Nishimura . T. . Nakagawa, S. . Sakaguchi, T. . January 2003 . Ultrasonic masker clarifies ultrasonic perception in man . Hearing Research . 175 . 171–177 . 10.1016/S0378-5955(02)00735-9 . 12527135 . 1–2 . 42920475 .
3. Lenhardt . M. . 2003 . Ultrasonic hearing in humans: applications for tinnitus treatment . Int. Tinnitus J. . 9 . 2 . 69–75 . 15106276 .
4. T. Oohashi, E. Nishina, M. Honda, Y. Yonekura, Y. Fuwamoto, N. Kawai, T. Maekawa, S. Nakamura, H. Fukuyama, and H. Shibasaki. Inaudible high-frequency sounds affect brain activity: Hypersonic effect. Journal of Neurophysiology, 83(6):3548–3558, 2000.
5. Deatherage . B. . Jeffress, L. . Blodgett, H. . 1954 . A Note on the Audibility of Intense Ultrasonic Sound . . 26 . 582 . 582 . 10.1121/1.1907379 . 1954ASAJ...26..582D .