# Quack Echos Revisited **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 27, 1999, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quack-echos-revisited/160 "1999-07-27T10:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 1999, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quack-echos-revisited/160/1 "1999-07-27T10:37:00Z")
Hello Cecil: I was busy enjoying your website and came across the column asking about whether quacks echo. The experiment done in Lansing, MI pretty much settled the question. But, I have a hypothesis which might explain why the topic even comes up. If you listen closely to a quack, it has lots of high frequency energy. It’s more like closely spaced ticks rather than a voice. And, if the harmonics are right, we might perceive a fundamental note that isnt there. That’s why we hear a “quaack” rather than high speed chirps right next to each other, which is what I think a quack is anyhow. The reason I make this distinction is that high frequencies are attenuated in air more so than low ones, so that the sound, in some cases, never reaches the reflecting surface. (You must be getting sick of this topic by now!) If I’m stating the obvious, please forgive me. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 1999, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quack-echos-revisited/160/2 "1999-07-27T13:11:00Z")
Here’s a link to a duck’s quack [http://ngp.ngpc.state.ne.us/sounds/ducks.au](http://ngp.ngpc.state.ne.us/sounds/ducks.au) Sweet, E ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 1999, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quack-echos-revisited/160/3 "1999-07-30T04:11:00Z")
Thanks, Sweet, for posting the link. I appreciate it when posters do that. Jill ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 1999, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quack-echos-revisited/160/4 "1999-08-01T03:42:00Z")
Well, here’s the way _I_ heared it: [http://transimage.com/Sounds/Duck/Duck.au](http://transimage.com/Sounds/Duck/Duck.au) An’ if it don’t quack like a duck, it’s prob’ly some damn furriner: [http://transimage.com/Sup/SndDuck.html](http://transimage.com/Sup/SndDuck.html) 😉 Ray ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 1999, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quack-echos-revisited/160/5 "1999-08-01T04:42:00Z")
And, hey, I just discovered, with the help of Goldwave: [http://www.goldwave.com/](http://www.goldwave.com/) that, at least in the world of DSP, quacks _DO_ echo!: First link, duck by the pond; second link, duck in a culvert: [http://www.tsoft.net/~raych/Quacks.htm](http://www.tsoft.net/~raych/Quacks.htm) Ray (ready to duck the retorts) Ray ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 1999, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quack-echos-revisited/160/6 "1999-08-01T04:53:00Z")
And, hey, I just found out, with the help of Goldwave: [http://www.goldwave.com/](http://www.goldwave.com/) that, at least in the world of DSP, quacks really _DO_ have echos: Hear the duck before and after it explores a culvert: [http://www.tsoft.net/~raych/Quacks.htm](http://www.tsoft.net/~raych/Quacks.htm) Ray (I don’t consider this quackery, so I won’t duck you retorts.) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 1999, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quack-echos-revisited/160/7 "1999-08-01T13:07:00Z")
I understand why a chicken, but I don’t understand… Well, someone had to say it. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 1999, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quack-echos-revisited/160/8 "1999-08-04T05:14:00Z")
I’d say it’s all water over the dam (or around it), but if you tell me to go fly my kites, I’ll claim I already flume. Ray (I guess we now know what an “Administrator” is good for.)