Elephants communicate by waves

Elephants can communicate with each other over distances of up to five kilometers using sounds that travel through the air. But they have a second way of sending signals. This is stated by experts from the Harvard Medical School (United States). Elephants communicate by seismic waves that travel through the ground. The study is in 'Frontiers in Audiology and Otology'.

Bone conduction hearing works very well in elephants. It could all be due to size and a special muscle. The vibrations are transmitted from the elephants' feet, through their legs, and finally through the bones of their skull, directly to the inner ear. They can be perceived at distances of 10 kilometers or more. This system is known as bone conduction hearing.

Elephants communicate by waves and vibrations in the ground

Imitating vibrations

Elephants use their ear canals to communicate over long distances. Hearing is significantly improved thanks to the larger structures in your middle ear. The scientists analyzed their temporal bones, a part of the skull that houses the middle and inner ear. The samples came from deceased elephants and human donors. The team connected the temporal bones to a device that generates vibrations that mimic sound traveling through the body to the skull. The middle ear bones of elephants vibrated most effectively at a frequency of about 400 Hz. Human bones vibrated at about 1.2 kHz.

Previous studies have shown that elephants have greater sensitivity to low-frequency hearing through air conduction. It stands to reason that they would also hear low-frequency sounds transmitted by bone conduction better than humans.

Elephants communicate by seismic waves. Elephants' greater sensitivity to low-frequency sounds is likely due to anatomical factors. Their middle ear bones are nine times heavier and their eardrums seven times larger than those of humans. Due to the size of their ears, elephants are better able to transmit low-frequency sounds to the cochlea.

This is due to the complex structure of your auditory system.

Infrasonic

Elephants can voluntarily use their ear canals, an ability that humans lack. This further enhances your excellent low frequency hearing. Elephants produce infrasonic vocalizations in the frequency range of 10 to 20 Hz. Elephants' ability to close their ear canals could improve their bone conduction hearing by up to 30 times when listening to these infrasonic frequencies.