Cats’ ears are controlled by approximately 30 muscles and they are able to rotate their ears 180 degrees to catch various sounds. A cat can hear many high-frequency sounds that humans (and even dogs) can’t, and is better able to distinguish tone and pitch.
Cats have superior sound location abilities. If a cat is a several feet away from multiple sound sources that are only 3 inches apart, she can locate each of the sources individually.
Although both humans and cats can hear sounds as low as 20 Hz, a human’s ability to perceive sound stops at frequencies above 20,000 Hz, whereas dogs can hear frequencies up to 45,000 Hz, cats 64,000 Hz, and mice 95,000 Hz.
Reference: Schelling, C., Dr. (2005). “A Cat Is Listening.” CatHealth.com.
For anwers to more cat questions, see the main Cats page.