How Does a Dog's Hearing Differ From a Human's?
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Overall Comparison
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Generally, a dog's hearing is not that much different from a human's. The only major difference is that dogs can pick up some higher frequencies. But, contrary to popular belief, dogs cannot hear noises from miles away. Dogs and people hear noises coming from the same distance away.
Those Incredible Ears
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One thing a dog can do that a human can't is change the position of the outer ear in order to focus more on a particular sound. By lifting the ears or swiveling them when they can, the outer ears then act as ear trumpets, magnifying sounds. Dogs with triangular ears or semi-floppy ears can usually hear better than dogs with very long ears.
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Dog Whistles
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Dogs can hear far higher ranges of sounds and tones than people. They can hear ultrasonic frequencies like a dog whistle or a squeaking mouse while we can't. Dog can hear between 40,000 to 100,000 vibrations per second while a human can only hear about 20,000 vibrations per second.
Deafness
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Dogs do go deaf for the same reasons that people go deaf. In both older people and older dogs, the sense of hearing is often dulled. Dogs learn to supplement any lost hearing with their sense of smell.
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Resources
- Photo Credit All ears. Image of Beagle from Wikimedia Commons
