Who can hear which whistle?

[Umbranus]

In PF we have a variety of whistles, several of which can only be heard by certain creatures.
That made me wonder how they work.

The ones I found with a quick search are:

Quote:

Silent Whistle: Only animals and other creatures with keen hearing can hear this whistle.

Whistle, Cave:Fashioned from the spongy stem of a rare mushroom, this whistle produces a sound that only kobolds and dragons can hear. Kobolds often create complicated codes made up of notes that they use to coordinate ambushes and raids.
Whistle, Sheriff's:Used most often by gnome sheriffs and rangers, a sheriff's whistle gives off a piercing shriek that can easily be heard up to 1,000 feet away under ordinary circumstances. However, the frequency of the shriek is such that it can only be heard by badgers, dogs, and gnomes.

While at first it seems clear who can hear which whistle I'm wondering if I want to just accept that as a given (hence I did not put it in the rules questions - the rules are clear enough)

Assuming none of the whistles give off Magic sounds there are only so many frequencies to be produced.

Both the silent whistle and the sheriff's whistle hint at being ultrasonic. Are they both the same? Or is the frequency given off by the sheriff's even higher?
The cave whistle on the other hand could well be infrasonic. But if it is, should not elephants or some other animals be able to hear it, too?
And would not infrasonics be a rather clumsy way of communicating ambush tactics because of big wavelength?

What do you think? Do you just play them as written, without questioning it?

All in all perhaps the general discussion would have been an even better fitting board.

[Umbranus]

If we add 3pp stuff there is the Hyena whistle in addition to the other ones:

Super genius games wrote:

Hyena Whistle: Gnolls use this reed whistle in the training of a pack's hyena companions, but gnolls can also hear the frequencies that whistle emits. This allows them to also use hyena whistles to coordinate attacks or pass information among each other without other humanoids noticing. A hyena whistle grants a +4 equipment bonus to Handle Animal checks made with hyenas, and a +2 equipment bonus to Handle Animal checks with other canids.

RAW gnolls are the only humanoids that can hear this whistle. As can hyenas and other canines. All in all that sounds similar to the sheriff's whistle. But this time gnolls can hear it but gnomes can't.

[Kayerloth]

For me I'd simply accept it as is without worrying about the science and reality of it. It's more than I wish to worry about typically. I say typically because every now and then I'll run a grim and gritty type setting with magic being both low and rare and then I'd be more prone to consider the real science and the list of critters than can hear the various whistles to be examples among the many who might hear such devices.

As an aside there's also a bit of difference between what I think of as "keen" hearing and hearing sounds (infra and ultra etc.) outside the range of normal human hearing. An owl can hear a mouse moving through the undergrowth a 1000 ft away ... those noises are within the acoustical range for human hearing but there's not a single human on this planet able to actually detect those sounds at 1000 ft. etc.etc.. Which is one example of why I wouldn't bother 99% of the time and just 'accept'.

[Lincoln Hills]

The easiest, if sloppiest, way to keep from having to argue about the audible frequency range of imaginary creatures is probably to house-rule that any race with the "Keen Senses" trait, or hearing-based blindsight, can also hear the sound of all 'silent' whistles.