Improve display of frequencies in Spectrogram window

I use Audacity to analyze bird and insect songs. I often want to know the exact frequency, or frequency range, of a song element and therefore work mostly in the spectrogram window. In order to make these frequency measurements, I have to scroll the contents of the window to bring the relevant points next to the frequency scale. Or, I can try to hold a ruler level to the screen. Either way is awkward to the point of being annoying.

There are several ways this could be improved. The most obvious might be to change the cursor to a ‘long cross-hair’ that would span the full width (and height, why not) of the spectrogram window whenever ‘Enable Spectral Selection’ is active. (In any case, the acuity of a crosshair would be so much better than the I-beam when in this mode!) Alternatively, a little tick mark on the frequency scale could mirror the y-position of the cursor (whether or not ‘Enable Spectral Selection’ has been evoked) whenever the cursor is hovering over this window. Even better would be to have a little balloon over the scale giving a precise numeric frequency readout of the cursor position.

Interested in this inquiry as well. Did you have any luck solving it?

Enable “spectral selection toolbar” to display frequency …

spectral selection toolbar - find freq on spectrogram

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Thanks for the tip Trebor. That does address my need to some degree. For very occasional uses, it works fine, but for more regular needs, it hardly cuts it. First, there are 4 mouse clicks to activate spectral editing, and another 4 to de-activate. (Why couldn’t that blank space in the Edit Toolbar be a button to activate/de-activate spectral editing?) The I-beam cursor is also an issue. While it is appropriate for making selections in the temporal axis, it’s all wrong for nailing a frequency. I don’t see any reason why the mouse cursor couldn’t be a crosshair at all times when over the spectral window. But even better, as suggested in the OP, would be to have an indication of its position in the frequency scale. Personally, I would really like the cursor to span the screen so as to make it quick and easy to compare frequencies over time.