answer:[snip from wikipedia article on Sound] Humans can generally hear sounds with frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz (the audio range) although this range varies significantly with age, occupational hearing damage, and gender; the majority of people can no longer hear 20,000 Hz by the time they are teenagers, and progressively lose the ability to hear higher frequencies as they get older. Most human speech communication takes place between 200 and 8,000 Hz and the human ear is most sensitive to frequencies around 1000-3,500 Hz. Sound above the hearing range is known as ultrasound, and that below the hearing range as infrasound. The amplitude of a sound wave is specified in terms of its pressure. The human ear can detect sounds with a very wide range of amplitudes and so a logarithmic decibel amplitude scale is used. The quietest sounds that humans can hear have an amplitude of approximately 20 ?Pa (micropascals) or a sound pressure level (SPL) of 0 dB re 20 ?Pa (often incorrectly abbreviated as 0 dB SPL). Prolonged exposure to a sound pressure level exceeding 85 dB can permanently damage the ear, resulting in tinnitus and hearing impairment. Sound levels in excess of 130 dB are more than the human ear can safely withstand and can result in serious pain and permanent damage. At very high amplitudes, sound waves exhibit nonlinear effects, including shock. [end snip] higher pitched sound has a higher frequency (shorter wavelength) ... so I guess the pressure would be applied "more times"? I have no idea ... but in real life, higher pitched sounds certainly sound louder / more painful / more annoying ... where as really bass tones just kinda reverberate within our ribcage ... or at least that's what if feels like to me ... hope this helps ^_^