While we know that animals hear a vast amount of sound we're deaf to, we don't have as clear a handle on how it may affect them. One possibility comes from Dr. Jeremy G. In a study on the effects of noise on lab animals , he noted that noise can alter the heart, sleep and endocrine cycles in animals and make them more susceptible to seizure.
A survey by a consortium of veterinary groups in the UK linked seizures in some cats with a phenomenon called feline audiogenic reflex seizures caused typically by high-frequency sounds. The study named over a dozen ordinary household noises that appear to be a cause, including phones ringing, computer printers and even the crinkling of aluminum foil.
Completely ending those sounds in your home would be very difficult, and it's hard to judge the severity of the problem because there's no rating or labeling of ultrasonic emissions on consumer electronics -- and our pets can't tell us what's bugging them. Still, there are things you can do.
This animated screen grab shows the difference in overall sound when the components in a typical media room are turned off and then on.
The largely blank screen shows the off state, the screen with more green bands shows the sounds you can hear lower green peaks and valleys and those only your pets can hear upper blue and green bands.
Strategies to reduce these sounds include turning off components at the plug when not using them which has the added benefit of stopping expensive phantom power draw , though this may interrupt the function of something like a DVR. You can also set up at least one room in your home as a quiet room, free of most or all electronics including LED lights. If you have a dedicated home theater, you can reduce noise for both you and your pet by remote mounting equipment like receivers, amplifiers, DVD players and DVRs fan noise can be especially irritating.
That will involve some longer cable runs and is typically considered a high-end home theater option, but may not be that difficult by using a converted linen closet next to the media room with a couple of in-wall cables to the TV and sound bar. But some of the worst offenders may be the ones that are hardest to control. We recorded the sound signature of each component in our sample media room by itself: Two of the clearest ultrasound signatures came from the LED bulb in a table lamp and the inch LCD TV on the wall.
Dogs can also hear sounds at higher frequencies or pitches than humans. We humans can only hear at frequencies up to 20, Hz, while dogs can hear frequencies up to 45, Hz 2.
Certain breeds of dogs are overrepresented when it comes to noise phobias, strongly suggesting that there is an inherited component to this condition. The following behaviors may be displayed in noise phobic dogs when they hear sounds that scare them:.
More subtle dog body language that pet parents should look out for includes pinned back ears, stiffened body position and dilated pupils. In dogs with severe cases of noise phobias, they may cause severe harm to their teeth, nails, and other body parts when attempting to escape the noise.
Here are some noises that may frighten your dog:. Thunder noise is one of the most common scary sounds for dogs. But besides the loud booms that are caused by thunderstorms, changes in barometric pressure, the smell of rain, and the appearance of storm clouds may all be involved in causing the fear that is induced by storms. Fireworks are likely the most common loud noises that scare dogs. Why is this?
Likely because fireworks are really loud and their sounds are random and unpredictable. Gun shots are very loud to human ears, which is why hearing protection is recommended at a shooting range. For dogs, who hear things at higher intensity, gun shots are extremely bothersome. Dogs probably hate the sounds of these vehicles because they are loud but they also create a variety of high pitched noises such as beeping and screeching.
Some dogs cower when pet parents go to clean their carpets. Skateboards can frighten dogs not only because they are loud but because they make erratic noises as they pass over bumps and as the skateboarder performs jumps and other tricks. A wailing infant can sure produce loud and often high pitched noises that some dogs hate. Jack hammers thwacking, tractors beeping as they move in reverse and hammers banging away make construction zones especially scary for dogs with noise phobias.
Car alarms are so loud that they often cause windows and door frames to rattle and may rattle your pup into a frenzy as well. Finally, dogs can be so distressed by everyday noises , like a vacuum cleaner or power drill, because they sound louder to dogs than to humans.
When it comes to the remaining detectable frequency range, dogs and humans can both hear these sounds, and the sensitivity of our ears is about the same. However, human ears have a maximum sensitivity of 2, Hz. Not coincidentally, that frequency is right in the middle of the range of human speech.
On the other hand, dogs have a maximum sensitivity of 8, Hz, much better suited to hearing their prey. Dogs also have an amazing ability to detect tiny differences between frequencies. On the other hand, we can locate sounds better than dogs. Humans can tell the difference between two sounds that differ in location by an angle of only one degree, whereas dogs need eight degrees of separation. Researchers know what humans can hear because they can ask their test subjects, but how do they know what dogs can hear?
Early studies involved training dogs to press a lever under a speaker when they heard a sound. Dogs typically can detect sounds between , Hz, while humans can detect sounds between , While dogs are capable of hearing higher frequencies than humans, they by no means have the widest hearing range.
Bats and whales can hear sounds up to , Hz, but are less capable of detecting lower range sounds. It is not merely frequency that causes a sound to be uncomfortable for a dog. The sound must reach a certain volume too.
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