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Cats and Household Appliances |
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If you have cats, you have probably
noticed they hate the vacuum cleaner and other loud home
appliances. This may well be due to the ultrasonic sound
produced by these devices, sounds we cannot hear but that
fall within the cat's extended high-frequency hearing
ability. Our cats flee in haste when the Miele S 172i
emerges from its hiding place. It turns out that
particular vacuum produces plenty of ultrasonic sound.
Other appliances that I hate myself, like the hair dryer,
seem not quite so motivating for the cats. As we see
below, the hair dryer produces relatively less ultrasonic
sound. (Note that the sound levels are not comparable,
only the spectra.) |
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It seems not all cats are repelled by a
vacuum cleaner, however. Our late cat Dexter loved being
vacuumed with our old Eureka 1684 B canister vacuum.
Unfortunately I have not measured its spectrum, but it may
well not have generated a significant level of ultrasonic
sound. While he might have been hearing-impaired
from years of hanging around the rock music, he could hear
the can opener from 1000'. |
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Dexter gets
vacuumed! |
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I first
recorded a vacuum cleaner - the one I used on Dexter - for
Numbskulls. Later,
Dan Levitin and I recorded about a dozen different vacuums
as part of a research project involving William's Syndrome
children who exhibit extraordinary sound timbre accuity.
The Menlo Vacuum shop was very accomodating if bemused. I
later bought our Miele from them. |
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