What a Dog's Ear Is Actually Doing During a Firecracker Burst
A dog hears frequencies between roughly 40 Hz and 65,000 Hz. A human tops out around 20,000 Hz. This is not a minor anatomical footnote, it means a dog is receiving acoustic information from a Ravana effigy burst that is simply outside the range of what you can perceive at the same moment. The crack of a large firecracker lands between 140 and 160 decibels at close range. Sustained exposure above 85 decibels causes measurable cochlear damage in mammals; a single impulse above 120 decibels can rupture the tympanic membrane. Dogs cannot tell you their ears are ringing. They show it through behaviour: frantic pacing, hiding behind appliances, refusing to eat, trembling, or in some cases, sudden aggression that owners misread as mood.
