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Determining Ultrasonic Vocalization Preferences in Mice using a Two-choice Playback Test
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Dogs tuned to conspecific vocalizations: behavioral evidence for a voice processing preference.

Tamás Faragó1,2, Kinga Surányi3,4,5,6, Flavie Bensaali-Nemes1,7

  • 1Department of Ethology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

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|June 19, 2026
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Summary

Dogs show a processing advantage for sounds from their own species, demonstrating biological relevance is key. This study reveals dogs prioritize conspecific vocalizations over human or chimpanzee sounds.

Keywords:
Acoustic stimuliBehavioral responseDogPerceptual sensitivityVocal communication

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Area of Science:

  • Animal Behavior
  • Auditory Perception
  • Bioacoustics

Background:

  • Species preferentially process conspecific vocalizations, but the reasons (acoustic, biological, or social relevance) remain unclear.
  • Dogs, with high relevance for both conspecific and human vocalizations, offer a unique model to study voice perception.
  • Previous research using salient distress calls may have obscured finer perceptual differences.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To disentangle the roles of acoustic, biological, and social relevance in dogs' auditory perception of vocalizations.
  • To investigate dogs' sensitivity to conspecific vocalizations versus heterospecific vocalizations and non-vocal sounds.
  • To determine if biological relevance (conspecificity) or social relevance (familiarity/interaction) drives preferential processing.

Main Methods:

  • Employed a habituation-dishabituation paradigm with dogs as subjects.
  • Tested responses to various sounds: dog vocalizations, human vocalizations, chimpanzee vocalizations, and violin music.
  • Used pink noise as a habituating sound and analyzed behavioral responses using a Bayesian approach.

Main Results:

  • Dogs exhibited dishabituation to all tested sounds, indicating general auditory responsiveness.
  • Stronger dishabituation responses were observed for dog vocalizations compared to human or chimpanzee vocalizations.
  • No significant difference in dishabituation was found between human and chimpanzee vocalizations, nor for music.
  • Dogs did not show dishabituation to chimpanzee vocalizations above chance.

Conclusions:

  • Dogs demonstrate a clear processing advantage for conspecific vocalizations over heterospecific ones, supporting the primacy of biological relevance.
  • This advantage is not driven by social relevance with heterospecifics or general acoustic properties of vocalizations.
  • The findings highlight the distinct and significant role of conspecific vocalizations in perceptual processing within a domesticated species.