Rumble:
Most elephant communication happens below what a human ear can pick up. The signature call is the rumble, a long slow vibration with a fundamental frequency usually between 12 and 20 Hz in adults, lasting a few seconds, with most of its energy in the infrasonic range. Field researchers describe standing close to one as a pressure in the chest rather than a sound. Calls including harmonics span an enormous range, from around 5 Hz up past 10 kHz. [We Love Elephants]
Noted in “Elephants imitate each other when they produce deep rumbling sounds,” Christa Lesté-Lasserre, NewScientist (10 October 2026; paywall):
Elephants communicate using a rich repertoire of body language, but also a wide range of sounds. These include their iconic trumpet call, and also throatier roars. The most common call is the rumble – so low-pitched it is often undetectable by humans – which can travel up to 10 kilometres, transmitting long-distance information that can potentially include the identity of the caller and what’s happening at the time.
Joyce Poole at Elephant Voices, a non-profit organisation based in Washington DC, that promotes the study and protection of elephants, says scientists have long been intrigued by the way elephants will rumble together in choruses. Studying those complex sounds, however, has proved extremely difficult because it is hard to pick out any given rumbling elephant in the chorus – what researchers call “the cocktail party problem”.
