ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science

Cats can really tell their owner’s voice apart. They just probably don’t care most of the time, study finds

Cats can distinguish and react to your silly babytalk. But they prefer not making a big deal out of it.

Tibi PuiubyTibi Puiu
October 25, 2022 - Updated on July 20, 2023
in Animals, News, Science
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit
Credit: Pixabay.

Cats can be aloof, independent, moody, and quite whimsical — but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be loyal or loving, just that they’re not exactly as responsive and eager to please as dogs are. In fact, often times it seems like cats command their owners and not the other way around. If you’re the one cleaning the litter box, can you deny this with a straight face?

Jokes aside, the typical cautious and temperamental behavior of housecats makes it rather challenging to ascertain how well they bond with their humans. Some extreme claims suggest that cats are not even fully domesticated unlike dogs and livestock, and for this reason, they are much harder to train, while others maintain that cats are every bit as needy and loyal as their canine counterparts.

But any communication difficulties between cats and humans aren’t owed to a lack of ability on the felines’ part.

According to a new study out today in the journal Animal Cognition, cats can distinguish between the voices of their owners and strangers, as well as between the different tones used by their owners, adjusting their behavior each time.

When the owner speaks, cats lend their ears — especially if they’re trying to sound cute

Humans employ extremely rich speech communication, which goes beyond the actual content itself, with tone and facial (and body) expression also playing an important role. Saying the same thing but with a different tone can mean totally different things even though the words are the same. Studies suggest that people tend to change the pitch of their voice depending on who they are talking to and the circumstance in which they are talking. For instance, when conversing with others they perceive as having higher status, people generally tend to talk using a higher pitch, signaling submission.

People often change their voices when they are talking to their pets, which often sounds like baby talk. The speech is slower, more melodic, and has a higher pitch than adult-direct speech. “Dog instinctively associate high-pitched noises with reward or excitement,” trainer Kyra Sundance writes in her book The Dog Rules. “A high-pitched, singsongy vocalization means that an animal is non-threatening, peaceful or empathetic.”

But can cats too recognize your childish gibberish? Charlotte de Mouzon and colleagues from Université Paris Nanterre set out to investigate this question and recruited 16 furry volunteers and their human owners for their study.

RelatedPosts

We finally know why male anglerfish evolved into sex parasites
The secret of seagrass and its crucial role in fighting one of the worst effects of climate change
How many licks does it take to finish a Tootsie Roll lollipop?
How ancient water management by the Chaco or Maya can help modern strategies in the face of climate change
The cat’s reaction when hearing their owner’s voice uttering ADS (adult-directed speech). Credit: Charlotte de Mouzon.

The researchers recorded the voices of both the cat owners and of a stranger while they spoke phrases in a cat-direct or human-direct tone. While they cycled through the four types of recordings, the researchers paid close attention to feline behavioral cues, such as resting, ear moving, pupil dilation, and tail wagging.

When they heard voice clips of a stranger calling them out by their name, 10 out of the 16 cats exhibited reduced behavior intensity, meaning they were the least reactive. However, when they heard their owner’s voice beckoning them, their behavior intensity increased. For instance, they would turn their ears to face the speakers from where the voice could be heard and their pupils visibly dilated.

This first part of the study shows that cats can distinguish between the voices of their owners and that of strangers.

The cat’s reaction when hearing the owners’ voice, masked with a 300 Hz pure tone to allow blind evaluation with the BORIS behaviour quantifying software. Credit: Charlotte de Mouzon.

In the second part of the research, the 10 cats showed significant responsiveness to the voice of their owners when exposed to audio clips of their humans speaking in a cat-direct or adult-direct tone. Eight of them increased their behavior intensity when hearing the cat-directed tone and decreased their behavior intensity when they listened to the adult-direct tone. The cats didn’t modify their behavior at all when strangers were speaking to them in either an adult- or cat-direct tone.

The upper cat is grooming before the stimulus onset. The vocal stimulus generates freezing, head orientation towards the speaker/experimenter and moving towards the experimenter. The lower cat is resting, the vocal stimulus generates mydriasis (pupil dilation) and head orientation towards speaker/experimenter. Credit: Charlotte de Mouzon.

This means that not only can cats tell their owners’ voices apart from strangers, but they can also tell distinguish between different tones, even though their responsiveness is a lot more subtle than, say, dogs. The authors caution, however, that their study involved a small sample size so the findings are obviously not representative of all cats.

Nevertheless, the study shines by adding more depth to human-feline interactions, showing that cats are not in any shape or form oblivious to our communication. It’s just that they might not care that much to actually follow orders or house rules.

ShareTweetShare
Tibi Puiu

Tibi Puiu

Tibi is a science journalist and co-founder of ZME Science. He writes mainly about emerging tech, physics, climate, and space. In his spare time, Tibi likes to make weird music on his computer and groom felines. He has a B.Sc in mechanical engineering and an M.Sc in renewable energy systems.

Related Posts

Art

Whale Tagging at Dawn and Other Stunning Photos of Science in the Wild”

byMihai Andrei
41 minutes ago
Geology

Antarctica has a huge, completely hidden mountain range. New data reveals its birth over 500 million years ago

byTibi Puiuand1 others
41 minutes ago
AI-generated image.
Future

Does AI Have Free Will? This Philosopher Thinks So

byMihai Andrei
3 hours ago
Science

Ancient British Miners Shipped Tin All the Way to the Pharaohs

byTudor Tarita
5 hours ago

Recent news

Whale Tagging at Dawn and Other Stunning Photos of Science in the Wild”

May 13, 2025

Antarctica has a huge, completely hidden mountain range. New data reveals its birth over 500 million years ago

May 13, 2025
AI-generated image.

Does AI Have Free Will? This Philosopher Thinks So

May 13, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.