The Music

Does Fido or Fluffy hear what I hear? No they hear much, much, more!

Hearing sensitivities in our pets is one of the most overlooked causes of behavior. We have taken animals as pets from the backyard to the bed in nearly forty years of our societies growing passion for the human - animal bond. Understanding how they hear and how they interpret sounds differently than we do is a fascinating and valuable understanding to enhance our relationships with our animal companions.

Consider that dogs, cats and horses hear two to three times more than we do and hear sounds faster and further than humans. That means that your pet is living not just according to their stomachs and noses but also in reactions to sounds and noises from minute to minute. In our homes and barns where they learn to trust and feel safe is the best environment to introduce behavioral tools to help our companions live happier, healthier lives.

Experiencing your pets hearing sensitivity to sounds is a daily behavior observance such as reactions to thunderstorms, loud truck rumbles and doors slamming. Dogs, cats and horses alert reactions for survival in nature continues into their home environment. There are, however, subtle reactions to sounds less obvious. Animals hearing sensitivities manifest agitated behaviors to ultra- high, sub- low frequencies and to strong vibrations. Their acute sense to sound is perfect for nature where they are free to move away and toward sound. In our homes and barns where their movement is limited dogs, cats and horse often develop separation anxiety, fear of thunderstorms and aggressive behaviors. Hearing sensitivity is one of the reasons why this occurs and one of the most overlooked environmental results during pet owner care.

As humans we can't hear these extreme ranges of sounds and may not feel these vibrations. If you place a sub-woofer speaker on a bare floor with music that goes below 60 Hz, below a dogs hearing range, the air pressure in a dogs ears from theses bass notes can actually be painful to them. For reference, the low E string on a guitar is 82.4 Hz. So if you wonder why your cat slips in and out of your space and your dog starts barking at the window where you can't see anything, know that your pet’s ears are at work! That is why it is important to include hearing sensitivity to pet ownership education.

About Janet Marlow, composer, researcher, author

As an author, researcher and composer, Pet Acoustics Co-founder, Janet Marlow is an international expert in the pet field. Her Relaxation Music for Dogs, Cats and Horses has proven success of putting animals at ease acoustically and scientifically. Janet's innovative approach for animals has been featured on The Martha Stewart Show, CNN.com, Animal Planet, Everyday with Rachel Ray, Women’s World, WNPR, Dog Fancy, Modern Dog Magazine, Animal Wellness Magazines and she is the author of Barnes & Nobles' Zen Dog: Music and Massage for a Stress Free Pet.

Hear what they hear

Reserve some time with your dog, cat or horse to try to hear what they hear. You can enhance your hearing by cupping your hands around your ears and moving them slightly forward making them amplifiers. When they bolt, bark or sit in front of the window, watch their head and ear movements. Try to detect where the sound is coming from and how close or far away. For vibrations in their environment, lower yourself onto the floor to feel what vibrations may be coming up from the floor below or basement. These exercises will give you a practical sense of what your pet hears and feels on their level of living. Whether a puppy or an aging pet that has minimal hearing, frequencies, loud volumes of sounds and strong vibrations are aspects of an important awareness for animal understanding.

Music is made up of frequencies, volume and vibrations

The good instinct of many dog, cat and horse owners is to leave a radio or TV on for their pets in the home or barn. Choices of classical music stations, talk radio or country music are used. There are also choices of CD music for pets on the market. This new awareness of music for pets depicts the need for animals to have the company of sound for behavioral calm and atmospheric soothing.

Species-specific music

Music is made up of the same qualities of sounds as in nature, frequencies, volume, and vibrations. During many years of casual observations, I had noted relaxed responses from the animals in my care. Each one consistently gravitated to my side while I was playing live music. The tipping point for me was when my severely injured cat, Osborn, was in the veterinarian hospital. When I visited him, I was struck by the lack of music in the hospital environment. Music was part of his daily life. When he passed, I passionately committed my work to understanding why animals instinctively benefit from music, as humans do, and researching what qualities would guarantee positive results for each species.

The research

We are learning more and more that music has a profound instinctual response from animals for physical and behavioral benefits.The beginning to bridging music and animals was the ability to duplicate music on records for radio broadcast. Being able to bring the music to the animal was and still is a new field. It was observed and then documented that dairy cows produced more milk when listening to relaxing music. Researchers believe that farmers could get an extra pint from their charges by playing classical music. Psychologists Dr. Adrian North and Liam MacKenzie at the University of Leicester, UK played music of different tempos to herds of Friesian cattle. Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony resulted in greater milk production. When loud and rowdy music was played, there was no increase in milk yield. "Calming music can improve milk yield, probably because it reduces stress," said North and MacKenzie.

"Over the last decade, our knowledge of the auditory abilities of animals in general has been the object of study because it was necessary to determine the hearing abilities of large mammals in order to answer certain questions concerning the evolution of human hearing." H. E. Heffner, Farm Animals and the Environment. (pp.159-184). Wallingford UK: CAB International.

From 2003, I have been observing and testing the results of music for dogs, cats and horses. I began by writing to Universities around the world to receive papers on the frequency and decibel hearing ranges of animals. I based the design of my music according to the data research of H. Heffner and R.S. Heffner PH.D. ~ Dept of Psychology at the University of Toledo in Ohio (USA) I have the utmost respect and appreciation for Dr. H. Heffner and Dr. R.S. Heffner’s scientific work on this subject. Hearing of animals and sound localization is relatively a new field and their research is extensive and renowned. Once I had the data of the Hz range of dogs and cats, I purposefully composed the music within a high register, a range that dogs and cats hear the most comfortably. Don't you instinctively raise the inflection of your voice when speaking to a dog or a cat? I also added into the music design, the observation that dogs and cats prefer long sustained tones and non-jarring volumes to maintain their state of rest. The premise became logical to me that by eliminating the high frequency content of the music that dogs and cats could be relaxed by releasing their alert reactions to high frequencies in their listening environment. The results were repeatable and the relaxation occurred within five minutes of listening.

My next interest moved forward to horses. While visiting stables, riding, working with veterinarians and speaking with horse owners and breeders, I observed special music was needed, tailored for the sensitive physiognomy and environment of horses. I discovered that human and equine hearing ranges are the most closely related than any other mammals. Considering the closeness of people with their horses in speech this enhanced the understanding of this bond through the musical design. I purposefully composed the music in an alto range where equines seem to find the most comfortable to hear. In my observations of horse response to music, I learned that they prefer shorter melodic phrases with rhythmic patterns. This was logical as horses movements are in beats of two's and three's.

The recording process

As a recording artist for humans for many years, I am well versed in the recording and mastering process. With this skill and the direction of my own species-specific compositions, I am able to go into the final stage of the music to contour the frequency and decibel design of the music for the intended animal, thanks to digital technology.

I have received hundreds of positive reviews worldwide and many included that the music had relaxed the pet owner alongside their pet. Inspired by these comments, I continued the species-specific concept to facilitate the human-animal bond with music. Opening up the aperture of sound slightly for human hearing comfort and maintaining the compressed and sonic design, people enjoy the music as well. Ultimately, this music calms the frequency content of the air of the living environment and elicits a state of relaxation. I believe that we are in an era where we, as a society are spending more time eliminating stimulation from our lives, instinctively seeking balance and well-being.

Text by Janet Marlow all rights reserved  2010