Dogs understand us better if we speak slower, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.
A team of researchers from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, showed that when humans speak slower with dogs, it allows pets to understand better. They analysed the sounds of 30 dogs, 27 humans speaking five different languages to other humans, and 22 humans speaking to dogs. During these conversations, the participants — both humans and dogs — underwent an EEG to examine their brain responses.
The results showed that humans “talk” faster than dogs, with a speech rate of about four syllables per second, while dogs bark, growl, woof, and whine at a rate of about two vocalizations per second. In addition, when talking to dogs, humans naturally slow their speech to around three syllables per second. EEG results showed that dogs’ neural responses to speech are focused on delta rhythms, whereas human responses to speech are focused on faster theta waves.
Overall, the authors suggest that humans and dogs have very different vocal processing systems. Curiously, the team speculates that slowing down our speech when speaking to dogs may have actually helped us better connect with them. “What’s further interesting is that while dogs use slow rhythm to process speech and contrary to popular beliefs, they need both content and prosody to successfully comprehend it,” the authors wrote in the article.
Déaux EC, Piette T, Gaunet F, Legou T, Arnal L, Giraud A-L (2024) Dog–human vocal interactions match dogs’ sensory-motor tuning. PLoS Biol 22(9): e3002789. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002789Citation: Déaux EC, Piette T, Gaunet F, Legou T, Arnal L, Giraud A-L (2024) Dog–human vocal interactions match dogs’ sensory-motor tuning. PLoS Biol 22(9): e3002789. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002789