Related Object Info
measurement of sounds from the cicada
This chart documents the musical sounds made by cicadas in Franklin, New Hampshire by means of a detector, sonic amplifier, and photographic recorder (Pierce 271). Pierce describes the cicada's song as "a powerful, high-pitched, raucous scream, somewhat like the sound made by a circular saw going through a board," and it varies in pitch and intensity (Pierce 272-273).
The "shrilling" noises of male cicadas are not made by stridulation, but instead by the "rapid vibration of a pair of membranes, or drums, situated on the basal abdominal segment" that are called "tymbals" (Pierce 276). When these convex tymbals move inwards and outwards, they make a sharp clicking noise similar to the indentation of a tin can. When heard in sequence, this repeated, shrill, clicking noise made by the tymbals constitutes the song of the cicadas (Pierce 276).
