Blog/2025-09-21/Dog Whistles

I read this tweet that talked about the politics term "dog whistle" that made me rather curious.

TracingWoodgrains @tracewoodgrains

If you’re hearing a whistle, consider whether you may be the dog.

Jul 15, 2025

Fine, it's a natural joke with the phrase. But is it true for dog whistles? In TV shows and the like they show dog whistles as pretty quiet but they also show a guy with a silencer on a gun shooting someone next to someone else. So what's the common reality like?

Dog Whistles Are Loud

Test	LAeq	Max. Level	LCPeak
Normal Computer Room	39.3 dB	40.0 dB	64.6 dB
Whistle in Computer Room	92.6 dB	97.7 dB	102.0 dB

The high noise levels in my computer room are because this website is hosted there. Don't worry, I am appropriately embarrassed by how loud it is. But the upshot is now we know what the real world version of the tweet is: If you're hearing a whistle, consider whether someone bought the "Best Seller" dog whistle on Amazon.

I had to make this blog post now because Julie got sick of those dog whistles lying there and threatened to throw them away, so I had to run the experiment in the short time I had before she got hold of them. They are gone now and will no longer assault any dogs (of which we have none) or humans (who were subjected to a 15 second blast in response to threatening to throw away valuable experimental equipment).