Previously published comparisons between behaviorally measured auditory thresholds and cochlear microphonic (CM) sensitivity have not revealed a close correspondence between the two measures. In this study, behavioral data for the cat from Miller, Watson, and Covell (1963) were compared with CM sensitivity for 30 cats. When the data were corrected to account for the altered resonance of the open bulla and the sound‐pressure transformation of the head and auditory meatus of the cat, the two curves were nearly identical in shape. Behavioral threshold, from 0.1 to 20 kHz, is approximately equal to that sound pressure necessary to produce a 0.02‐μV CM output at the round window.