Jason Bradwell's 365/366 Photo a Day Blog

Thirty-two individual muscles in each ear allow for a manner of directional hearing: a cat can move each ear independently of the other. Because of this mobility, a cat can move its body in one direction and point its ears in another direction. When angry or frightened, a cat will lay back its ears, to accompany the growling or hissing sounds it makes. Cats also turn their ears back when they are playing, or to listen to a sound coming from behind them. The angle of cats' ears is an important clue to their mood.

Cats can hear high frequency sounds we cannot and can distinguish the tone or pitch of sounds better than we can. In addition, a cat's ability to locate the source of a sound is highly advanced. From a yard away, a cat can distinguish between sounds from sources only 3 inches apart. All of these attributes makes it quite easy for a cat to distinguish the sound of you opening the door to the cat food cupboard from the sound of you opening the cupboard door next to it.