How far does sound carry in the woods?

[Robishack]

How far do shrill sounds (ex a whistle) carry in the woods? Half a mile? 3?

[TOMP]

depends on the woods and the sound. Vague but true. You can hear voices at about a mile on a quiet day. But again depends on alot of factors.

[Bronk]

I can hear gunshots 10 miles away through a heavily wooded national forest.

[redbird]

I tested a pretty good Fox whistle once by giving my hiking partner a 3 minute head start before I blew the whistle (3 short blasts, pre-arranged.) She could not hear it despite being no more than 1/5 mile away and having excellent hearing. The trick was, there were a few 15 foot high ridges traversed by the path in the 1/5 mile between us. Plus it was mid autumn, still plenty of leaves on the trees near Bash Bish /western Mass/but on a separate trail on the New York side of the line.).

Nowadays I use a Storm brand whistle which is bigger and definitely louder. These were created by a dentist/lifelong scouter in St. Louis. Mine is about 10 years old, don't know if you can still buy them.

[hikerboy57]

terrain and wind are really big variables here.if you're in a windy ravine, you can blow your whistle all you want. its almost impossible to tell where the sound is coming from, if you can hear it at all. on a still night, the sound can carry for miles. in a blizzard, maybe a hundred feet.consider an airhorn instead.:)

[TOMP]

this is alot like asking how far can you see in the woods. It depends where you are standing.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Like others have said, a lot of variables. Trees and leaves absorb/scatter noise. Wind and/or rain is a big factor as they create a lot of background noise as well. When it's clear and quiet, perhaps 2 miles or so.

[Pedaling Fool]

What would be interesting is do a test in an area during winter (with no foliage) and repeat when foliage returns to see how much of a difference. Sorry that's all I got, still on my first cup of coffee.:(

[kayak karl]

a tree fell and noone heard it :)

i've hike in places where we could hear voice, but never saw a soul and other time walked up on a noicy shelter and saw and heard it at the same time. when at the river on a foggy morn it is so quiet except for the fog horns. it has to do with tone.

[garlic08]

Temperature and humidity are variables, too.

[hikerboy57]

depends who's listening.:)

[Kerosene]

I found this unscientific study (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/894108-Whistle-Test-Bigger-Better-New-amp-Improved) of various whistles, held on a calm Fall day after the leaves were down. The longest range was only 425 meters, or about 4.6 football fields. Not very far in my opinion. The lower the pitch the longer the carry, but even the loudest whistles get lost in the background noise of a forest.
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This survival study (http://sgtmikessurvivaltips.blogspot.com/2008/09/whistle-tests-part-two.html) shows the TOPS Knives pealess whistle to be the loudest at 123 db, with the Navy STORM pealess at 120 db, versus a human scream of up to 110 db.
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Personally, I'm not convinced that whistles will be all that effective in many situations. For an audio signal, I'd prefer to use a rock against metal, or metal against metal, which I feel cuts through the background din better than a high-pitched whistle. A visual signal, such as a fire or mirror, would be preferred for long-distance signaling if line-of-sight allows.

[MuddyWaters]

In the still early morning you can hear road traffic, especially large trucks, miles away, its amazing close it sounds. Later in day when winds are up, sounds dont carry as far. I think it will really depend on conditions. However, if no one is there to hear it, or it is not close enough to be pinpointed, it doenst matter.

[birdygal]

I can hear interstate 75 from my house at night but not in the daytime . There is a 1600 foot high 4 mile long mountain between me and the interstate, My house is 1000 ft from our road and I can hear people talking that live on the next street over which is probably close to 1/2 mile away. I live in a mountain cove with 2 1600 foot mountains on 2 sides and a gap of about 1000 feet on the 3rd side, my house is at 900 ft elevation at night I can hear coyotes howling from 3 directions but then hundreds of dogs start ruining the sound

[xcess]

sound will only travell as far as the first person it comes to who doesnt want to be disturbed

[Juice]

Not that this will help in any way but I was recently reminded of a question posed by Steven Wright.If a man says something in the woods and there are no women there to hear him, is he still wrong?