Do termites make noise in walls and wood?

Termites are sneaky pests that can infest the wooden structures in your home without making much sound. But that doesn’t mean they are completely silent. When an infestation grows large enough, you may begin to hear termite noise coming from inside your walls or wood.

So do termites make noise? The short answer is yes, termites can and do make faint sounds that indicate their presence. However, these noises are very quiet and people often miss them. You need to actively listen for odd sounds to detect termites before major damage occurs.

This article covers everything you need to know about identifying termite sounds and what they mean if heard within your home’s walls or wood: 

Do Termites Make Audible Noise?

Termites do create noise, but it is very faint and rarely heard. The main sounds made by termites are:

• Soft chewing or crunching as they eat through wood
• A light tapping noise as they bang their heads
• Hollow sounds from damaged areas inside walls or wood

The reason these termite noises are so quiet is that the insects don’t have ears and can’t hear themselves or each other. The sounds are simply incidental to their movement and feeding activity.

Additionally, termites mainly operate behind walls, floors, and other hidden areas out of sight. Their subtle noises become muffled and hard to detect.

Termite Behavior is Quiet

There are several reasons why termites tend to work quietly:

• Termites Lack Ears – Termites cannot hear airborne sounds, so the noises they (worker termites) make while tunneling and feeding carry no purpose for communication. Their activity creates faint incidental sounds rather than intentional noises.
• Food Sources Have Natural Barriers – Termites burrow through wood framing inside walls and Florence or underneath flooring. These structures block noises from projecting outward to where humans can hear them.
• Chewing Takes Place Slowly – As termites chew through wood fibers to derive nutrition, they do so at a gradual pace rather than vigorously devouring in a way that makes loud chewing or crunching sounds.
• Soft Bodies Absorb Sound – A termite’s soft body also dampens noises from their movement. Their chewing and motion happens with little vibration to limit sound.

So in their regular course of feeding and tunneling, termites don’t intentionally create noises and instead operate very quietly behind walls, floors, and wood structures.

Signs to Look and Listen For

Just because termite noises won’t roar through your home doesn’t mean you can’t detect their subtle sounds.

You are more likely to hear termites in wall voids at night when the house is quiet without background noises like television droning. Listen closely to walls where wood trim or studs lie behind drywall for any odd sounds.

Here are noises to pay attention for that may indicate the presence of termites in your home inside walls or wood:

• Chewing and Crunching – A soft, papery crunching sound from termites eating through wood fibers. Sounds may come and go randomly.
• Tapping or Clicking – Faint clicks or light tapping coming from inside voids where termites are active. Soldier termites bang their heads to indicate a disturbance.
• Hollow Sounds – If tapping on wood results in an abnormally hollow or empty resonating effect, termites may have damaged interior wooden structural stability.
• High-Pitched Whine – Large termite nests vibrate wings to communicate breeding cycle changes, which emits a high-pitched whining sound.

These subtle noises require close attention to detect. Conduct inspections by listening intently for unusual sounds coming from behind walls, beneath floors, or within wood trim or support beams. Faint termite noises can warn of activity and allow treatment before major damage happens.

Is It Possible To Hear Termites And Can They Be Loud In Walls?

Because termites lack hearing organs, the sounds they make in the course of finding food and consuming wood are not intentional. The noises are simply incidental to their movement.

Termites do not have a need or reason to make loud noises as they work. Additionally, termites tunnel into spaces with barriers that muffle and dampen sounds like wall voids or beneath floors.

So while termites create faint chewing, crunching, clicking, or tapping sounds within these spaces, the noises struggle to carry outward enough for humans to hear clearly or become loud.

However, people are more likely to detect termite noises at night when household background sounds diminish. Listen closely to walls, floors, and wood finishes at times when activity quiets down to potentially hear the subtle noises produced by feeding termites. This becomes a valuable warning sign of infestation.

Chewing and Crunching Sounds

As termites burrow through and consume wood, they make very soft chewing and crunching sounds. You are unlikely to hear these noises during daytime hours when household noises can cover them up.

But listeners may detect the faint papery crunching sounds at night while near walls where drywood termites are feeding. The random soft chewing and crunching noises last a few seconds and then pause and repeat irregularly.

These subtle feeding-related sounds allow an opportunity to pinpoint where termites may lurk within wood structures and wall voids early enough for pest control treatment.

Do Termites Make Noise?

Yes, termites do make noise. However, they do not intentionally create sounds to communicate. The noises stem as incidental byproducts of their movement through and consumption of wood.

The common sounds most associated with termites include:

• Light chewing/crunching from eating wood fibers

• Tapping noises by banging their heads
• Buzzing noises during seasonal mating swarms when wings flap
• Hollow sounds in damaged wood sections

Because termites lack hearing organs, these noises remain very soft and faint. The insects carry on their activity quietly behind walls and other barriers that muffle their subtle sounds even further.

So while termites do generate noise during daily functioning, they operate quietly enough that the sounds usually go undetected until after major damage occurs or exterior signs like swarmers or tubes appear. Careful, attentive listening may pick up on these termite noises early.

Can You Hear Termites In The Wall?

Termites make very subtle noises while tunneling and feeding inside wall voids and other hidden spaces around a home. But even active termites work so quietly that their sounds remain virtually undetectable behind drywall or other barriers.

During daytime hours, household noises like TVs or appliances running mask the faint odd sounds termites make within walls even further. However, your ears may pick up soft crunching or tapping sounds in walls during quiet nighttime hours.

Conduct inspections by listening intently along walls where wood framing lies for any crunching or tapping to detect termites. Also knock along trim, baseboards, or studs to listen for hollow damaged sections. With no background noise, you stand the best chance of hearing termites within walls early enough for effective treatment.

Can You Hear Termites?

Termites do generate some level of incidental sound signatures resulting from their feeding activity and movement through wood structures. So it is possible a sharp, attentive listener may hear indications of termites.

However, several factors cause termite noises to remain very faint and unlikely to detect:

• As termites chew through wood, they eat slowly rather than vigorously which limits sound
• Termites lack hearing organs so they don’t create intentional noises
• Their soft bodies absorb vibrations rather than amplifying them

Additionally, termites constantly work behind physical barriers like walls or under flooring that muffle noises significantly.

If you remain very quiet, preferably at night when household noises diminish, concentrate your hearing along walls or porous wood areas. You may potentially detect subtly odd crunching, tapping, or hollow sounds hinting at termites before major outward signs appear. But this requires patience and diligence since termite noises blend easily into background quiet.

Can You Hear Termites At Night?

Even active termites in walls operate so quietly during daytime hours that their subtle noises get drowned by household sounds and activity. Detecting any crunching, tapping, or chewing noises they make while feeding and moving within wood and walls proves extremely difficult.

However, your odds improve markedly at picking up these faint termite sounds at night when household disturbances decrease. Television, radio, appliances, and occupants all generate less ambient noise after dark.

Take advantage by spending time quietly listening along walls where wood framing lies and tapping trim for hollow areas to try detecting odd noises. Concentrate intently for minutes at a time while moving slowly across rooms for the best chance to pick up on the subtle night sounds potentially made by termites in walls.

What Do Termites Sound Like In A Wall?

Identifying noises behind walls takes patience, diligence, and focus. But during quiet nighttime hours, sharp listening may reveal sounds providing clues to a hidden termite threat:

• Crunching – A sporadic soft, faint crunching or chewing noise lasting a few seconds points to possible feeding activity.
• Tapping – Occasional light tapping hints at soldier termites signaling disturbances by rapping their heads.
• Hollowness – Wall areas that sound more open and echoing rather than solid may indicate termites consumed framing.
• High-Pitched Whining – Some species emit a hard-to-hear whistling sound from vibrating wings to indicate breeding cycle changes.

Remain utterly quiet and move slowly across rooms inspecting one section of wall at a time for any unusual sounds. Termites create noises very subtly, so detecting them through barriers requires exceptional patience and hearing sensitivity. But with diligence, wall sounds may betray termites.

Do Termites Make Noise During The Day?

Termites do generate some level of sound from activities like tunneling, chewing on wood fibers, or tapping their armored heads. However, these noises are extremely faint since termites don’t communicate by sound and lack hearing organs.

Most termite noises go completely unnoticed during daytime hours when background sounds throughout the home can easily mask any subtle odd noises. Appliances, radios, televisions, and occupants all make elements that drown out the soft crunching, tapping, or chewing sounds.

Termites also constantly work behind walls, under flooring, or within other structures that contain their already near-silent noises. These physical barriers prevent any incidental sounds from projecting noticeably into rooms.

So even an active termite infestation remains unlikely to create noises noticeable over typical daily household noises and activity. Only during quieter nighttime may their subtle noises become evident through diligent inspection.

Key Noises Signaling Termites

Termites don’t create noises intentionally and even incidental sounds remain very faint. But diligent detection and identification of odd sounds in walls, wood, and other areas help indicate activity so treatment can start before major damage develops internally.

Carefully listen for these common termite-created noises:

Chewing and Crunching : Soft, sporadic crunching or chewing sounds from termites eating through wooden fibers. Listen closely along walls and wood trim for these faint feeding noises.

Tapping or Clicking
Clicking sound or tapping sounds may emit from voids as soldier termites bang heads to indicate a disturbance. Concentrate when inspecting walls for any odd clicks.

Hollow Sounds
: Damaged wood finishes or wall sections giving an empty, echoing resonance rather than solid when tapped may indicate termites consumed core structural integrity.

High-Pitched Whining
: Some species create a very faint but high-pitched hum or whine from vibrating wings as a communication signal. Listen intently for any odd whining noise coming from voids.

Human ears likely will not detect these muted noises without absolute silence and diligent attention during inspection. But catching termite sounds early provides critical pest control treatment time before exterior signs appear or catastrophic damage ensues.

Conclusion and Summary

• Termites do generate sound during feeding and movement inside wood and walls but noises remain very faint
• Chewing/crunching wood, tapping their heads, and making high-pitched whines are common termite noises
• Termites don’t intentionally communicate with noise since they lack ears and can’t hear
• Sounds are simply incidental byproducts of motion and remain muted by their soft bodies
• Background noises and physical barriers like walls diminish noises further
• Listen intently along walls on quiet nights for any odd crunching, tapping, or whining to detect termites
• Paying attention to these subtle termite noises allows identification and treatment before extensive damage

Catching the muted noises termites make early prevents them from silently growing into large, destructive infestations within walls and wood frameworks. Diligent detection when your home quiets down gives you the best opportunity.