Describing what you can hear

Range of sounds

The range of sounds that humans can hear is very large, from the loud roar of an aircraft as it takes off to the quiet murmur of the wind as it passes through the trees.

Or from the low-pitched rumble of distant traffic to the high-pitched screech of the dentist's drill.

These two sides to our hearing mean every sound fits into a box of hearing:

• From very quiet to extreme loudness.
• From a low-pitched rumble to a high-pitched squeak.