The “Mozart Effect” refers to the popular scientific theory that you can increase a baby’s intelligence by exposing them to the work of Mozart and other classical composers. If this is true, could playing music improve our fur babies’ intelligence and general well-being too?
Discover which types of music dogs like and whether they possess the skills to sing along to your favorite hits.
First: Does “Dog Music” Exist?
A quick search for “dog music” on YouTube retrieves hundreds of results, promising to relax and soothe your canine with soft, melodic piano tunes. These unique music compositions claim to reduce separation anxiety, calm high-energy dogs, and provide consolation to a whimpering pup.
To achieve this calming effect, the videos use sound sweep technology that enables a high-pitched noise to run through the melody; like a whistle, these noises capture and hold your dog’s attention.
Some Dogs Like Music
Evidence suggests that dogs have musical preferences just the same as humans do. Deborah Wells, a psychologist at Queens University, tested dogs’ responses to different genres of music and came up with some interesting results.
Dogs who listened to pop music hits such as Bob Marley and Britney Spears showed little to no interest or reaction, while dogs exposed to heavy metal hits showed increased agitation through restlessness and excessive barking.
In contrast, classical music seemed to calm these canines and resulted in far more prolonged periods of relaxation. That’s why many “dog playlists” available on the internet center on classical and soft piano sounds.
What Type of Music Do Dogs Like?
Wells wasn’t the only psychologist to test music on dogs. Many researchers would confirm that classical music did have a positive influence on dogs. Still, a study by Bowman demonstrated that other genres of music could also positively impact a dog’s well-being.
If you’re looking for something your dog might enjoy, try playing classical, reggae, or soft rock.
At the other end of the spectrum, avoid music such as heavy metal or grunge, which trigger signs of stress, agitation, restlessness, and even aggression in some canines.
Why Do Dogs Howl to Music?
Surely you’ve seen viral clips of dogs “howling” along to the sound of music – and who could deny the musical genius of Buddy Mercury? But when our canines strike a chord, are they really trying to sing?
Stanley Coren, Ph.D. and author of “The Intelligence of Dogs” suggests that dogs enjoy singing and possess a sense of pitch (though this may be vastly different from our own). In 1980, three canines performed alongside 20 humans in a musical work entitled “Howl,” while years later, Pink Floyd sang with a Border Collie during their “Live in Pompeii” concert.
However, we’re still some way off from true dog popstars just yet; while many people enjoy the novelty of hearing a dog sing, our ears aren’t quite ready for an entire concert.
But we do know that the pitch of a dog’s howl is purposeful because we see this behavior in their ancestor, the wolf. Wolves differentiate the pitch of their howl on purpose to ensure they stand out from one another – and maybe that’s why your dog sings off-pitch.
Do Dogs Hear “Better” Than Humans?
There is a common misconception that our canine friends have a “better” sense of hearing than we do, but this is not strictly the case; dogs hear higher than we do.
The average human can’t hear any sounds above 20,000 Hertz, whereas dogs can hear sounds up to a range as high as 47,000 to 65,000 Hertz. Additionally, dogs can hear softer sounds than we can too. Humans measure the intensity of sound (i.e., how loud, or “heavy” a sound is) on a decibel scale; 0dB represents an extremely soft sound, which young humans can only hear as a faint noise.
On the other hand, dogs can hear sounds in a negative decibel range (on average, from -5dB to -15dB), which means they hear soft tones that our sense of hearing is not acute enough to pick up.
Why Do Dogs Hear Higher Frequencies Than Humans?
Dogs hear higher frequencies than humans because of something called binaural spectral-difference cueing.
As mammals, we do not require a high-frequency sense of hearing to communicate. Instead, we hear higher frequencies to help us locate a sound’s source. Binaural spectral-difference cueing is our way of doing this. We can work out where the sound is coming from by comparing the frequency range as it arrives at each ear.
We absorb lower frequencies less than high ones. However, on a smaller head where the distance or “block” (our head) between each ear is less, so too is the effect of lower frequencies. To effectively utilize the binaural spectral-difference cues, animals with smaller heads need to have higher upper limits.
We can see this throughout the animal kingdom. While a mouse (with a tiny head) can hear frequencies up to 90,000 hertz, an elephant manages soundly with a range of up to only 10,000 Hertz. A dog sits in the middle of these, with a head that is only slightly smaller than our own; they hear frequencies up to 65,000 Hertz.
