It is important that your beam of sound is focused properly at both the receiver and transmitter. You must use a parabolic dish for this.
If you use air I do not believe that there is a magic frequency where the air offers a lower attenuation, if it was within the range of frequencies that we use for hi fi, it would have been found while they were still making acoustic recordings. - Prove me wrong!
Whales use water to transmit "sound" through, its not sound, its vibration in the water that we hear as sound. A vibration detector would "hear" it too.
Frank