The cat's external ear rotates up to 180 degrees to locate and identify even the faintest of noises. The Organ of Balance Deafness Main Menu

The cat's ear is yet another marvel of feline engineering. Like a sophisticated satellite dish turning to pick up a signal, the cat's external ear, or pinna, rotates up to 180 degrees to locate and identify even the faintest of squeaks, peeps or rustling noises.

While dogs are renowned for detecting high-pitched whistles far beyond human hearing, cats actually hear much higher frequencies than canines and are only slightly inferior at the low end of the frequency scale. They also can detect the tiniest variances in sound, distinguishing differences of as little as one-tenth of a tone, which helps them identify the type and size of the prey emitting the noise. This heightened sense of hearing is especially important in wildcats, which depend on hunting for survival. It also enables wild and domestic feline mothers to hear faint squeals of distress from their cubs or kittens when they stray too far away.

A cat up to 3 feet away from the origin of a sound can pinpoint its location to within a few inches in a mere six one-hundredths of a second. Cats also can hear sounds at great distances — four or five times farther away than humans.