Say what, Batman? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Are those bats talking about ME? Bats can both squeak and hear at frequencies so high, you’d need SUPER-hearing to detect it! Or at least – BAT-hearing? Enter Ville Pulkki and colleagues at Aalto University in
Continue readingTag: hearing
Hair, Hair, Everywhere!
What’d you say? I can’t HAIR you! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We associate hair coming out our ears with aging… and aging with… well… hearing loss. But could hair in our ears actually make our hearing less… fuzzy? Our ears actually have MILLIONS
Continue readingSuperhearing!
Say what, Batman? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Are those bats talking about ME? Bats can both squeak and hear at frequencies so high, you’d need SUPER-hearing to detect it! Or at least – BAT-hearing? Enter Ville Pulkki and colleagues at Aalto University in
Continue readingColor by Ear
Seeing is believing, or wait, maybe hearing is! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Turquoise or aqua? Lavender or lilac? If someone tells you the NAME of a color, does that affect how you see it? Lewis Forder and Gary Lupyan of University of Wisconsin Madison wanted
Continue readingHear That?
There’s something in the EAR tonight… and I don’t mean your Airpods! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We know that our inner ear contains HAIR CELLS that detect sound. But then what? How does the sound get into our brains? Bifeng Pan and colleagues
Continue readingNoise Pollution
Don’t forget to dry your hands! WHAT? What’d you say?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Many public restrooms have electric hand dryers. It saves trees and cuts down on trash! But those noisy contraptions have little kiddos covering their ears! Young scientist Nora Louise
Continue readingSpider Sense
As if spiders weren’t scary enough…they’re listening to us, too?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Jumping spiders are vicious predators known for their keen eyesight. Not so much for their hearing, because they lack eardrums. But now researchers from Harvard and Cornell have spun
Continue readingMosquito Ears
Shhh!!! There’s blood suckers out here!! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Mosquitos!. By the time we hear them, it’s already too late – we’re lunch! But could THEY be the ones to hear US coming first? Meet Ron Hoy and Gil Menda, of Cornell
Continue readingThe First Hello
Want to know how to make the best first impression? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. When meeting strangers, how we look tells the world a lot about our personality. But what about how we SOUND? Enter Emmanuel Ponsot from the French National Center for
Continue readingHockey Noise
Now that hockey season’s ending, let’s check the damage. To participants’ groins, teeth, ears? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Consider this study on hockey noise done by University of Alberta audiologists Richard Liu and William Hodgetts. To measure the overall noise during three play-off
Continue reading