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New Study Reveals Dogs’ Exceptional Ability to Understand Human Speech
Research from experts in animal behavior and cognition at the Universities of Lincoln and Sussex, along with Jean Monnet University, has unveiled that dogs might be more adept at comprehending human speech than previously believed.
The research paper titled “Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) recognize meaningful content in monotonous streams of read speech,” published in the journal Animal Cognition, elaborates on the finding that dogs appear to attentively listen to human speech, even when it isn’t specifically directed at them. The study concluded that dogs have the neurological capability to discern relevant commands amidst a variety of spoken information.
For over 14,000 years, humans and dogs have shared a close relationship, yet the extent of dogs’ understanding of human language remains underexplored.
The researchers aimed to determine if dogs could spontaneously recognize significant content within a stream of meaningless speech delivered in a monotone voice.
A diverse group of dogs from various breeds participated in the study, exposed to a continuous stream of speech containing both applicable commands and irrelevant chatter, all presented in a uniform tone. The results were surprising, showing that dogs consistently responded to the relevant commands, indicating their ability to extract useful information from what was spoken.
Typically, when interacting with dogs, humans use a style of speech characterized by exaggerated intonation, known as dog-directed speech (DDS). This form of speaking is similar to the “baby talk” often used with children, designed to catch the attention of the animal.
The implications of this research are profound, particularly in the realm of human-animal interactions, suggesting that dogs possess the cognitive structures necessary for speech understanding, which could enhance training methods for service animals.
Dr. Holly Root-Gutteridge, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Lincoln, remarked, “Dogs are aware that their name is often used to capture their attention, typically paired with a cheerful tone. Our goal was to explore whether dogs could still recognize their name even when spoken in a monotone and embedded within a longer sentence.”
“Our findings revealed that dogs can indeed identify their name amidst irrelevant speech—an early indicator of language comprehension. They paid attention to familiar words just as much as they did to meaningless words spoken in a happy tone. However, their attentiveness increased significantly when their name was paired with an enthusiastic voice, indicating they are indeed paying attention to the cues we provide.”
Project leader, Professor David Reby from the University of Saint Etienne and a Visiting Professor at the University of Sussex, stated, “Our research demonstrates that dogs can recognize important speech information even when delivered without the usual emotional tonality we associate with interacting with them.”
“The ability to perceive fundamental verbal information is remarkable, suggesting that either human speech taps into a broader set of perceptual abilities found in other mammals, or that dogs have developed a specialized sensitivity to human speech through domestication.”
More information: Holly Root-Gutteridge et al, Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) recognise meaningful content in monotonous streams of read speech, Animal Cognition (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s10071-025-01948-z
Citation: All ears: New study reveals dogs’ remarkable ability to listen to human speech (2025, April 15) retrieved 15 April 2025 from https://phys.org/news/2025-04-ears-reveals-dogs-remarkable-ability.html
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