Do Chickens Have Good Hearing?

Chickens hear better than humans. But how do they hear without “ears”? And what do they hear? In short, how and why do chickens have such good hearing?

How Chickens Hear

A chicken has ears on both sides of its head, just like a human does. But the chicken’s ears have no external flaps, like a human’s. Instead, tiny feathers, the “auricular feathers,” protect the ear openings. And, without turning its head, a chicken can control the position of these feathers to focus on a sound’s source.

Internally, the chicken’s three-part ears are similar to a human’s. The outer ear collects sound waves, which it transmits to the middle ear by vibrating the eardrum membrane. The middle ear transmits vibrations to the inner ear.

The inner ear analyzes the vibrations and, via the auditory nerve, sends the information it gathers to the chicken’s brain. The chicken’s brain perceives sound more quickly than does a human brain.

A Chicken’s Frequency Range

The chicken’s sound frequency range is 60 to 12,000 hertz (Hz), compared to the average healthy human’s range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Chickens hear best in the range where most of their vocalizations concentrate, between 1,000 to 3,000 Hz.

The chicken’s upper range isn’t as good as ours, dropping significantly at about 8,000 Hz. Examples of high frequency sounds are squeaks, whistles, bird chirps, and insect buzzing.

But the chicken’s lower range, below 100 Hz, is much more sensitive. Examples of low frequency sounds, which the chicken largely perceives as vibrations, include drumming, explosions, earthquakes, and thunder.

Over time, the chicken’s hearing weakens as sensory hair cells of the inner ear become damaged through loud noises or the use of some antibiotics. But, unlike the hairs in a human ear, the chicken’s hair cells regenerate, restoring the chicken’ hearing.

How a Chicken’s Good Hearing Develops

A developing embryo begins to hear sounds toward the end of incubation. After the chick hatches, the mother hen’s food call teaches the chick to find safe things to eat. In the brooder, you can encourage a newly hatched chick to eat starter ration by tapping a finger on or near the chick feeder.

Mature chickens learn to use hearing for social interactions, to navigate the environment, and to avoid predators. Instead of hearing loss, as occurs in humans, aging healthy chickens maintains good hearing throughout their lives.

Why Chickens Have Good Hearing

Chickens lack binocular vision, which they partially make up for by processing sounds faster than humans. The chicken locates the source of a sound by noting slight differences in the sound’s arrival to each ear, or “interaural time difference.” Because of this delay, a chicken can locate the source of brief sounds more easily than if the sound is continuous.

Chickens also compare the intensity of a sound reaching each ear, or “interaural level difference.” Their ability to detect both location and intensity makes chickens more sensitive to sounds that a human might not even notice.

An Open Beak Affects Hearing

Ducts connect the chicken’s middle ear with the roof of its mouth, regulating air pressure in the middle ear to prevent injury to the eardrum. Further, by slightly opening its beak, a chicken attenuates vibrations, or reduces their sound intensity

Opening the beak opens the connection between the chicken’s two inner ear canals. Opening the connection, or “interaural canal coupling,” makes the chicken’s hearing more omnidirectional. Chickens open their beaks while maintaining alertness, eating, or vocalizing.

When the chicken closes its beak, on the other hand, the interaural canal coupling becomes stronger. As a result, hearing is more directional, allowing the chicken to focus on a sound’s source. So by opening or closing its beak, the chicken can quickly change between omnidirectional and intensely directional hearing.

Sound Attenuation

Sound attenuation measures in decibels (dB) how much sound energy diminishes between the chicken’s two ears. The average sound attenuation in a rooster with a closed beak is 3.5 dB.

Without moving its head, the rooster is therefore able to tell which direction — back or front, left or right —a sound is coming from. When the rooster wants to listen omnidirectionally, such as while relaxing, he opens his beak and attenuation drops to near zero.

Determining where a sound is coming from is top priority for a rooster, as defender of the flock. It is critical for detecting predators and fending off rival roosters.

Hens have much less ability to switch between directional and omnidirectional hearing, having an average attenuation of less than 0.5 dB. Even with a closed beak, a hen has nearly omnidirectional hearing, letting her detect faint sounds regardless of direction. That’s because the top priority of a brooding hen, or a hen raising chicks, is detecting when something, somewhere, is making a sound.

Practical Aspects for Chicken Keepers

Understanding how good hearing influences your chickens’ umwelt can help you provide a better environment for your flock. Continuous loud sounds are especially bothersome, because they interfere with the chicken’s ability to attune its hearing.

Bothersome sounds include the nearby use of a chainsaw, leaf blower, lawnmower, or other noisy machinery, and even loud music. Chickens living near railroad tracks, airports, construction sites, and the like, do not grow or lay as well as chickens in a more serene environment.

Continuous exposure to a high pitched sound, such as is made by an ultrasonic pest control device, causes stress. So does a rumbling low pitched sound.

Sudden loud noises, like gunfire or fireworks, can trigger panic. And chickens may feel threatened by regular repetitive sounds like a dog barking or a rusty hinge swinging in the wind.

So it pays to minimize your flock’s exposure to loud sounds, especially sudden loud noises. And please take your chickens’ good hearing into consideration when planning noisy yard work or other outdoor activities.