# hearing electromagnetic waves?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-electromagnetic-waves/49982>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [January 14, 2001, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-electromagnetic-waves/49982 "2001-01-14T08:26:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2001, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-electromagnetic-waves/49982/1 "2001-01-14T08:26:27Z")

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[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/muhf.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/muhf.html)

in that article, Ian says “and the frequency from 300-3000 Hz, which was thankfully declared unsuitable for long-distance broadcast, except when you shout really loud.”

If he’s saying what I think he’s saying, isn’t he implying that you can hear electromagnetic waves?

Am I missing something?

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**Author:** ![shawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba8739/32.png) [@shawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shawk)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2001, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-electromagnetic-waves/49982/2 "2001-01-15T00:05:19Z")

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Humor.

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**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2001, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-electromagnetic-waves/49982/3 "2001-01-16T07:37:42Z")

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I don’t think the joke is that you can hear the EM radiation, so much as that 300-3000 Hz, which I shall call Really Low Frequency, just doesn’t work very well for ordinary radio. So if you had an “RLF” transmitter, you’d have to shout really loud into the microphone for anyone to hear you. It’s just a joke, but it points out that the long-wave radio frequencies are hard to use.

ELF (the frequency just below “RLF”, which is really called something else) emitters are carried by planes; the antennae have to be really long, but if you broadcast on such a low frequency the radiation will penetrate water, and subs can hear you. Not exactly worth the trouble for a walkie talkie.

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**Author:** ![frolix8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f04885/32.png) [@frolix8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frolix8)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2001, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-electromagnetic-waves/49982/4 "2001-01-16T19:51:20Z")

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I think the joke is that most of the human voice falls within that frequency.

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hearing-electromagnetic-waves/49982/5 "2001-01-20T06:41:58Z")

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I think that would be sound frequency vs. electromagnetic frequency. Different excitation media. The frequency number match makes for a good joke, but doesn’t mean we hear EM.