The sound of food pouring into a bowl, the creak of the front door, the laughter of a boisterous group—these everyday noises can significantly affect your dog’s balance.
A team of researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna found that a dog’s balance can shift—stabilizing or destabilizing—when it hears both joyful and aggressive human voices.
A stable posture helps dogs (just like humans) stand still, walk, and run without falling. To maintain stability, dogs rely on visual signals and proprioception (the sense of the body’s position). Scientists have long known that external sounds affect human balance: high-frequency sounds are linked to destabilization, while silence tends to stabilize posture. However, there has been little research on how sounds influence the posture and stability of animals, as reported by Popular Science.
What Did the Scientists Discover?
In their new study, the team measured balance changes in 23 domestic dogs while they listened to both joyful and angry human voices. To do this, the researchers placed the dogs on a platform equipped with pressure sensors that detected even the slightest movements.
After analyzing the individual changes in all the furry participants, the researchers found that cheerful voices were associated with stabilization in 57 percent of the dogs. These same joyful voices caused destabilization in the other 43 percent of the animals. Meanwhile, angry voices were linked to significant destabilization in 30 percent of the dogs.
The team says these results suggest both joyful and angry human voices can trigger emotional responses that affect a dog’s balance. The study’s sample was small, so the researchers say more work with a larger group is needed—particularly to see whether a dog’s prior experiences influence its reactions.
The study’s findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Photo: Unsplash
