Researchers from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Hungary have gathered convincing evidence that dogs can recognize their owners by their voice alone. Dog owners frequently notice their devoted pup’s ears perk up when they hear a familiar sound, but do our furry friends really connect a voice with a certain person? Additionally, the research indicates that dogs use some of the same voice characteristics as humans do.
28 pairs of puppies and their owners participated in a game of hide-and-seek in the study’s lab. Two large blocks were placed on either side of the room, one serving as cover for the human owners, and the other as cover for a total stranger. The two blocks were identical in shape, size, and color. The owners spoke to their dogs as the strangers did the same once they were out of sight. The owners and visitors simply read aloud different recipes to the puppies, speaking in a neutral tone.
Of course, each dog’s job was to find the box that their owner was hiding behind. 14 different strangers also participated in this game, trying to attract the attention of each dog, along with each dog’s owner, multiple times. Some of the strange voices were very different from the dog’s real owner, while others were quite similar.
Surprisingly, 82 percent of the time the dogs correctly located where their owners were hiding. Only voice recordings of each participant were used during the final two rounds of the experiment because dogs are known for having keen senses of smell. The dogs continued to approach the box while their owner’s voice was playing even then.
“People mostly make use of three properties: pitch (higher or lower), noisiness (cleaner or harsher), and timbre (brighter or darker) to differentiate others,” Anna Gábor, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
The dogs underwent training to become accustomed to the testing environment and to gradually teach them that their task was to select their owner’s voice. According to the study’s authors, the length of time it took the dogs to turn their heads in the direction of the owner’s voice as they waited for the signal to leave demonstrated how confident they were in their choices.
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“This is the first proof that dogs can distinguish between their owner’s voice and many others,” The study also demonstrates that dogs use some, but not all, of the same voice characteristics as people do to identify the speaker, according to Andics Attila, the lab’s director and lead researcher in the Neuroethology of Communication.
The owner and a stranger hid in the study behind two different makeshift partitions. Both the owner’s voice from their respective hiding places and the stranger’s voice from the other hiding place were played by the research team. The authors of the study claimed that both voices read out recipes in a “neutral tone.”
We can all agree that dogs make incredibly devoted and knowledgeable pets. According to a recent study from Budapest, Hungary, animals can identify their owners simply by the sound of their voices, just as people can do with pitch and timbre to identify a particular voice. Loading the player.
The dogs were strategically placed behind strangers to make it harder for the researchers to find them during their game of hide-and-seek with the dogs, who quickly located their owners. Additionally, they recorded and played back the owner’s voice from where the strangers were hiding, making sure that dogs only used their hearing and not their sense of smell.
Clubs Offering:
A Shiba Inu responds positively to hearing his owner’s voice for the first time on the radio in a popular TikTok video. It begs the question of whether dogs can recognize voices or actually understand that it’s you when you ask to talk to your dog on the phone when the owner isn’t present.
FAQ
Do dogs like their owners voice?
Talking strengthens relationships because people can read our emotions, carry out our instructions, and predict our needs. It’s just another reason why we adore them so much. According to research, talking to dogs in dog-directed speech actually encourages them to spend more time with us, which is beneficial.
Do dogs know the sound of your voice?
Dogs could recognize their owners simply by the sound of their voices, according to a recent study from researchers at the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary.
Do dogs recognize their owner face?
Dogs do pay attention to human faces, Andics, said. “They can identify people just by looking at their faces, and they can read emotions from faces, but other bodily cues appear to be equally informative to them.” ”.
Do dogs understand what you’re saying when you talk to them?
Amazingly, dogs can interpret human body language and intonation. Our dogs are more intelligent than just “Sit,” “Stay,” and “Walk.” Many words can be taught to them, and when we say them in the right tone, they can understand their meaning even better.