The Story
Do you have a plant nearby? Is it yelling? The fact is that if you’re behind on your botanical care, it may be; the human ear simply can’t hear it. According to a new study, plants can produce ultrasonic noises that are beyond the range of the human ear, and these distress signals include information about the plant’s health.
“According to earlier research, vibrometers linked to plants capture vibrations, according to a statement made by Professor Lilach Hadany of the Wise College of Life Sciences’ School of Plant Sciences and Food Security. Do these vibrations, however, also transform into airborne soundwaves, or distantly audible sounds? This issue, which scholars have been discussing for years, was the subject of our investigation.”
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The study used different kinds of plants and put them through things like being dehydrated and hurt to see if this affected how much they produced. They then put the plants in an acoustic box with ultrasonic microphones that could pick up and record sounds between 20 and 250 kilohertz (the maximum frequency detected by a human adult is about 16 kilohertz).
It mostly talked about tomato and tobacco plants, but it also talked about wheat, corn, cactus, and henbit. The recordings showed that tomato plants, which don’t make a lot of noise most of the time, make a loud ultrasonic sound when they’re thirsty, sick, or hurt. Also, they made different noises when they had different problems.
The Sound
The sounds that plants made were between 40 and 80 kilohertz, which is much higher than what an adult human ear can hear. Plants that are healthy make less than one sound per hour. Plants that are stressed, on the other hand, make dozens of sounds in the same amount of time.
If you have a lot of neglected plants in your home, it could be filled with screams due to this horrifying realization. You simply cannot hear it.
“Our findings reveal that the environment around us is filled with plant noises, and that these sounds tell us things, including when there isn’t enough water or when a plant is wounded,” said Hadany. “In nature, creatures like bats, rodents, insects, and potentially even other plants that can hear high frequencies and figure out what they signify can hear plant noises.”
“We believe that humans can employ this information if they have the proper instruments, such as sensors that alert producers when plants require irrigation. Evidently, a picturesque flower field can be quite boisterous. Simply, we cannot hear the noises!”
