Use vowel and consonant sounds to help you identify frequencies
I came upon this concept from this video. I’ve combined it with what I understand of the International Phonetic Alphabet.1
Jason Corey says u, o, a, e, and i correspond to octave frequencies 250Hz, 500Hz, 1000Hz, etc.2 I’ve built on and refined this concept for my own use.
| Frequency | Phoneme |
|---|---|
| 250Hz | u |
| 315Hz | two parts u, one part o (kinda like ʊ, as in “hook”) |
| 400Hz | inverse |
| 500Hz | o, as in RP “yawn” |
| 630Hz | two parts o, one part a (kinda like ɔ, as in “thought”) |
| 800Hz | inverse (kinda like ɑ, as in “hot”) |
| 1kHz | a (as in California “hat”) |
| 1.25kHz | two parts a, one part ɛ (kinda like æ, as in “cat”) |
| 1.6kHz | inverse |
| 2kHz | ɛ, as in “bed” |
| 2.5kHz | two parts ɛ, one part i (kinda like e, as in “may”) |
| 3.15kHz | inverse (kinda like ɪ, as in “bit”) |
| 4kHz | i, as in “free” |
| 5kHz | two parts i, one part s |
| 6.3kHz | inverse |
| 8kHz | s |
| 10kHz | two parts s, one part ts |
| 12.5kHz | inverse |
| 16kHz | ts |
Use this page to train your ear.
Interestingly, words like “boomy” and “tinny”, common words among audio engineers for describing sound, seem to correspond really well to this chart.
For more about frequencies and vowels, see Formants.
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