Puedes Oir Los Elephantes?

I think my neighbors are teachers, of a sort. Many months ago, it seemed that they were trying to teach me a bit about the Spanish language. Now I suspect they want me to learn more about the physics of elephant communication.

They used to play their music quite loudly -- the latest Latin pop hits, clearly audible in every room of my apartment. My Spanish is good enough to recognize the language, but not good enough to translate much of it -- which of course means they were just trying to inspire me to learn more. But the timing of their lessons was a problem -- irregular days, frequently early in the morning. I would occasionally knock on their door and talk to them about this, saying things like, "EXCUSE ME BUT COULD YOU PLEASE TURN THE MUSIC DOWN WE CAN HEAR IT IN EVERY ROOM OF OUR APARTMENT."

They eventually moved on to new lessons, and new times. The lessons are more regular now: every Saturday and Sunday, mid-mornings and afternoons (but sometimes late afternoons on weekdays, lately). The lessons are one to four hours in length. The overall volume is less, but they have some sort of bass boost thing going on, so now (in every room of the apartment) you can hear some variation of boom-BOOM, boom-boom-boom, boom-BOOM, boom-boom-boom . . . .

Here's the deal: the soundwaves of low tones have longer wavelengths than those of high tones. Low tones can travel farther than high tones because longer wavelengths are less likely to be deflected or absorbed (it's the same idea with red sunsets in polluted Los Angeles -- red light has a longer wavelength than the other colors we can see, so red isn't as easily absorbed / deflected by the particulates in the air).

Elephants use low tones as a means of communication -- they can reach distances of up to 10 km (just over 6 miles) using infrasound: sound lower than we can hear. They can hear it, and they can probably even feel it in the sensitive pads of their feet. Know what else? They can generate a volume of up to 112 dB (similar to a construction site) and have a vocal range of up to 10 octaves, with up to 6 octaves of variation in a single call! A good (human) singer might have 3 octaves, and supposedly Julie Andrews at one time had 4. Learn more here, and once you get to the site, click on "Acoustic communication."

To express my appreciation for my neighbors' efforts, I have sent a letter to the rental office saying essentially, "Could you please get the neighbors to turn down their bass." We'll see what lessons come next.