Myth Busted: A Duck's Quack Doesn't Echo

Claim: A duck's quack doesn't echo, and nobody knows why.

Status: False.

Comments: Note well, you won't find this claim made in any scientific journal or textbook. You will find it repeated in questionable sources such as email trivia lists and fruit drink bottle caps -- reason enough to be skeptical right there.

The obvious question -- and the one never answered by those who tout this absurd factoid, of course -- is, why wouldn't a duck's quack echo? What could there possibly be about the sound a duck makes that would uniquely exempt it from physical laws that apply to all other such sounds, e.g., a dog's bark, a cat's meow, or a lamb's bleat?

The answer is: nothing.

The claim that a duck's quack doesn't echo is empirically disproven here.

Resources:

• Is It True that a Duck's Quack Doesn't Echo?
  Ask the Experts, PhysLink.com



• Is It True a Duck's Quack Won't Echo?
  The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams, 22 May 1998



• A Duck's Quack Doesn't Echo?
  University of Salford: Accoustics, Audio and Video


• Science 'Quacks' Urban Duck Myth
  CNN, 9 September 2003

Last updated: 10/04/08