List,
  I have the answer for thunder but not a meteor (I am guessing that they are 
about the same?  10miles or 16km  

Chris or anyone care to give the correct answer?  Thanks!

Thunder contains a somewhat cylindrical initial pressure shock wave along the 
lightning channel in excess of 10 times the normal atmospheric pressure. This 
shock wave decays rapidly into a sound wave within feet or meters. When thunder 
is heard from about 328 feet (100 m) distance, it consists of one large bang, 
yet hissing and clicking may be heard just prior to the bang (upward 
streamers). When heard at .6 mile (1 km) from lightning, thunder will rumble 
with several loud claps.

Thunder is seldom heard beyond 10 miles (16 km) under ideal conditions. The 
sound of distant thunder has a characteristic low-pitched rumbling sound. 
Pitch, the degree of highness or lowness of a sound, is due to strong 
absorption and scattering of high-frequency components of the original sound 
waves, while the rumbling results from the fact that sound waves are emitted 
from different locations along the lightning channel, which lie at varying 
distances from a person. The longer the lightning channels, the longer the 
sound of thunder. Humans hear frequencies of thunder between 20-120 Hertz (Hz). 
However, there is a small amount, less than 10%, that is inaudible to humans 
produced from lightning, called infrasonic. Special listening devices are 
required to record these inaudible sounds.
Sources: http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_info/thunder2.html

Best Regards, Dirk Ross...Tokyo
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