§ 10 Limits of the Ear; and of Musical Sounds
The ear’s range of hearing is limited in both directions. Savart fixed the lower limit at eight complete vibrations a second; and to cause these slowly recurring vibrations to link themselves together he was obliged to employ shocks of great power. By means of a toothed wheel and an associated counter, he fixed the upper limit of hearing at 24,000 vibrations a second. Helmholtz has recently fixed the lower limit at 16 vibrations, and the higher at 38,000 vibrations, a second. By employing very small tuning-forks, the late M. Depretz showed that a sound corresponding to 38,000 vibrations a second is audible.28 Starting from the note 16, and multiplying continually by 2, or more compendiously raising 2 to the 11th power, and multiplying this by 16, we should find that at 11 octaves above the fundamental note the number of vibrations would be 32,768. Taking, therefore, the limit assigned by Helmholtz, the entire range of the human ear embraces about eleven octaves. But all the notes comprised within these limits cannot be employed in music. The practical range of musical sounds is comprised between 40 and 4,000 vibrations a second, which amounts, in round numbers, to seven octaves.29
The limits of hearing are different in different persons. While endeavoring to estimate the pitch of certain sharp sounds, Dr. Wollaston remarked in a friend a total insensibility to the sound of a small organ-pipe, which, in respect to acuteness, was far within the ordinary limits of hearing. The sense of hearing of this person terminated at a note four octaves above the middle E of the pianoforte. The squeak of the bat, the sound of a cricket, even the chirrup of the common house-sparrow, are unheard by some people who for lower sounds possess a sensitive ear. A difference of a single note is sometimes sufficient to produce the change from sound to silence. “The suddenness of the transition,” writes Wollaston, “from perfect hearing to total want of perception, occasions a degree of surprise which renders an experiment of this kind with a series of small pipes among several persons rather amusing. It is curious to observe the change of feeling manifested by various individuals of the party, in succession, as the sounds approach and pass the limits of their hearing. Those who enjoy a temporary triumph are often compelled, in their turn, to acknowledge to how short a distance their little superiority extends.” “Nothing can be more surprising,” writes Sir John Herschel, “than to see two persons, neither of them deaf, the one complaining of the penetrating shrillness of a sound, while the other maintains there is no sound at all. Thus, while one person mentioned by Dr. Wollaston could but just hear a note four octaves above the middle E of the pianoforte, others have a distinct perception of sounds full two octaves higher. The chirrup of the sparrow is about the former limit; the cry of the bat about an octave above it; and that of some insects probably another octave.” In “The Glaciers of the Alps” I have referred to a case of short auditory range, noticed by myself in crossing the Wengern Alps in company with a friend. The grass at each side of the path swarmed with insects, which to me rent the air with their shrill chirruping. My friend heard nothing of this, the insect-music lying beyond his limit of audition.