2-minute read

Do Felines Hear What We Hear?
If you were to create a music playlist to raise the spirits of your resident feline, which genre would you choose to help put your house kitty in the zone? It would be natural to assume that your furry friend may prefer the music frequently heard in the space shared with human family—whether classical, country, rock, jazz, or a mixed bag. But what is music to human ears would most likely leave a house cat cold.

According to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying how musical sounds can impact the well-being of animals, domestic felines prefer compositions that have the characteristics of “cat music.” And what is cat music? A continuous loop of Cat Power, Cat Stevens, and Stray Cats? The soundtracks to Cats and The Lion King? Animal behaviorists have concluded that cats are more drawn to music that mimics the tempo and frequency range of feline communication signals and physiological rhythms, which are different from ours.

Much the same way that tempos matching a resting human heart rate are perceived as calming and those that exceed the human heart rate are experienced as energizing, biologists and musicologists believe that an animal’s reaction to music would depend on how it corresponds to that species’ heart rhythms and sensory systems.

They’re Playing Our Song
To test their theory, the Madison researchers composed two pieces of “species-appropriate” music specially created to elicit a response from domestic felines. Mirroring natural cat vocalizations, the kitty compositions averaged an octave higher than human music, gradually transitioned from one note to another, and matched the tempos of kittens purring and nursing.

And how did the 47 bewhiskered test subjects respond to the custom cat tracks? Completely indifferent to human music, the purr-prone study participants showed significantly more interest in sounds in frequencies and tempos similar to feline rhythms. Approaching and rubbing against speakers playing the cat music, agitated cats became calmer and calm cats became more engaged.

From cats and dogs to cows and chickens to elephants and orangutans, all animals experience the world through sensory systems specific to their species. Scientists studying how companion, farm, and captive zoo animals perceive and interpret sounds and how what they hear influences their behavior are striving to harness the stress-reducing power of music to help improve the health and well-being of the creatures that depend on our care.

ICYMI Nature News

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