How Can Dogs Hear SOUNDS we Can't?

Introduction

     Have you ever wondered how dogs can hear from so far away? Well dogs can hear sounds more than 80 feet away, and possibly as far as a mile away! Wow, isn't that crazy!

Comparing Dogs, Cats, and Humans

     Dogs have a much better sense of hearing than humans. They can hear sounds that are more than four times farther away than humans can.  

     Most people probably think that dogs hear better than cats. Did you know that cats actually have a better sense of hearing than dogs? Cats have more than 30 muscles in their ears to shape their ears in many different ways. They can funnel their ears to hear lots of sounds. Dogs don't have those muscles in their ears.

     So, if your family has humans, dogs, and cats in it, the cats have the best sense of hearing. Dogs come in second place. And the humans have the worst sense of hearing.

Sensing Predators and Prey

     Dogs make good guards because they can hear sounds from a distance of more than 80 feet away. They can possibly hear sounds that are almost a mile away! 

     Dogs move their heads in different directions when they are listening. This may come from their natural instincts about sensing predators and hunting prey.

     When a dog thinks it’s being chased by an ambulance or car, it might start howling. Again, this connects to its instincts about sensing predators or chasing prey. Instead of thinking a car is a car, it thinks the car is a predator or a prey.

How Can Dogs Hear

     Have you ever noticed that dogs move their heads in different directions when they are listening? Cats have muscles to control the shape of their ears, but dogs have to move their heads in the direction of the sound.

     Dogs have a more sensitive ability to hear sounds than humans. They also hear in a much different way than humans do. A dog can hear one sound with its right ear and a different sound with its left ear. Isn't that interesting? Because of this ability, dogs can tell how far away the sound is coming from.

     Human can't do this. Humans hear the same sounds with both ears at the same time. That's just another way that a human's sense of hearing is much inferior to a dog's sense of hearing.

Part of a Dog's Ear

     The three main parts of a dog's ears are the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear, similar to humans. The outer ear helps collect sounds, but also it directs them to the middle ear. 

     Inside the middle ear are the three small bones called the ossicles. They amplify the sound waves to make them bigger, and send the sound to the cochlea. The cochlea translates the sound waves into electric signals which it sends to the brain.

Dog Whistles

     A dog whistle makes a sound at a wavelength of 20,000 hertz. Human ears can't hear the sounds at these wavelengths, so dog whistles sound silent to humans but not to dogs. 

     Many professional dog trainers use whistles when they train dogs. They use high-pitched whistles to send signals to their dogs from great distances without ever saying a word.