Not to disagree too strongly with the keeper of the oracle, oh woman of
diversity, da Wolfie, but (as a researcher) there IS a scientific means
of testing the hearing in ferrets.  AND, I do have in my possession
several articles about the hearing sensitivity of the ferret.
 
However, most of the research done in this area is because of the
similarity between hearing and anatomical structure of the ferret and
human ears.  Unless you specifically went hunting for this info, you
probably will not just happen onto it.  If you are interested in
references, please email me and I will send them.
 
As a ferret mom, I have a lovely deaf gent, Sir Walter (of Raleigh, NC),
who appears to communicate telepathically.  Bob Church presented a
wonderful talk at the Ferret Symposium 2002.  He stated that ferrets
speak to each other in sounds that are inaudible to humans.  This makes
me think that there must be some frequencies that can have adequate
hearing sensitivity to function, without having adequate hearing
sensitivity to respond to a variety of other sounds.
 
Now, as an audiologist, I have contemplated testing the hearing of
ferrets in my sound booth.  I think that I can condition them to respond
for a treat anytime I present a tone.  However, I am not sure they would
agree to the insert earphones and the headphones are too big ...
 
renee :) &
The Poop-in-the-Corner Gang
[Posted in FML issue 3906]