Explain The Concept Of Audibility?

The word audibility comes from the word audible, which means can be heard. The range of frequencies which a listener can hear is known as the range of audibility.

The top and bottom values of the range are known as the limits of audibility. For the human ear, the lower limit is approximately 20 Hz and the upper limit is 20,000 Hz. In other words, our ears are supposed to be able to hear sound with frequencies that are greater than 20 Hz and less than 20,00 Hz.

Different people have different ranges of audibility. People who are old cannot hear as well as those who are young. The ability of the ear drum to respond to sound decreases with age and the range of audibility becomes very much reduced as the lower limit rises and the upper limit falls.

Our ears can only respond to sounds which lie with a certain range. If you were to sound a dog whistle, a dog might respond to it you cannot hear that sound. This is because the sound produced is above the upper limit of audibility.

Our ears cannot hear ultra sonic sounds; similarly it cannot hear sounds of very low frequency. Such as sounds produced by vibrating metal strips cannot be heard because of its low frequency.