Ear range

Recall that an octave is the range of sounds, higher or lower, from one musical note to the next corresponding note—say, from C to the next higher or lower C. The normal human ear can detect sounds over a range of about 8.5 octaves.

Cats, as you might expect, have a wider range, about 10 octaves. Specifically, they are good at sensing higher pitched sounds than humans—such as the faint and high-pitched calls of kittens or rodents. In scientific terms, cats have an upper hearing range of 65 kilohertz.