- Instead of addressing your puppy in a high-pitched tone, speak more slowly.
Most dog owners will reserve a special voice for their pampered pooch.
But instead of addressing your pup in a high-pitched tone, it’s worth speaking more slowly if you really want to bond with him, according to one study.
That’s because dogs’ understanding of human speech depends on a much slower pace, experts say, and slowing down our speech can help us connect better with them.
To better understand how people and dogs communicate, researchers at the University of Geneva analyzed the vocal sounds of 30 dogs.
They then studied the sounds of 27 humans in five languages who spoke with other people, and 22 humans in those languages who spoke with dogs.
Most dog owners will reserve a special voice for their pampered pooch. But instead of addressing your pup in a high-pitched tone, it’s worth speaking more slowly if you really want to bond with him, according to a study (file image)
The scientists also used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine the brain’s responses to speech in both humans and dogs.
Humans “talk” much faster than dogs, the study showed, with a speaking rate of about four syllables per second.
Meanwhile, dogs bark, growl, bark and whine at a rate of about two vocalizations per second.
When talking to dogs, humans reduced their speech to about three syllables per second, showing that there was an innate awareness of the need to speak more slowly.
Human and canine EEG signals showed that dogs’ neural responses to speech focus on slower “delta” rhythms, while human responses to speech focus on faster “theta” rhythms.
The authors suggest that humans and dogs have different vocal processing systems and that ultimately slowing down our speech when talking to pets may have helped us connect better with them.
Dogs’ understanding of human speech depends on a much slower pace, experts say, and slowing down our speech can help us connect better with them (file image)
In an article in the journal Plos Biology they said: ‘Although dogs cannot produce articulate sounds, they respond to speech.
‘Using acoustic analyzes of dog vocalizations, we show that their main production rate is slower (than that of humans) and that directed speech between humans and dogs is halfway between the two.
“Exploring neural and behavioral responses to speech reveals that comprehension in dogs depends on a slower speech rate than in humans.”
Previous research has shown that dogs show greater brain sensitivity to speech directed at them than speech directed at adults, especially if spoken by women.
Hungarian researchers measured dogs’ brain activity using MRI scans and found similarities between the way babies and dogs process speech with exaggerated intonations, commonly known as “baby talk.”