Dogs: How Their Hearing Works

Ever wonder how your pet dog is able to hear the slightest sound or give you an early warning when someone is at your front door? Well, a dog's hearing is far superior to that of a human. Each ear on a dog's head can work independently. They each have about 18 or muscles that allow them to turn, rotate, lower or raise to pinpoint a particular sound. Their ability for listening, hearing, and tracking sound is unbelievable.

Dog's ears act like a radar scanning and interpreting sounds. They can hear about 4 times farther than a human can. A dog's great hearing ability allows them to hear a multitude of different sounds. So many sounds that most humans cannot tolerate. A dog has learned to screen the sounds it hears. Your pet dog can instantly tell if that's you talking in another room or if it's just the radio playing in the background.

Dogs with erect ears generally, like German Shepherds and Siberian Huskies have a better sense of hearing than dogs with floppy ears, for example, Beagles and Basset Hounds. There are also breeds that are prone to hearing loss and they are Dalmatians, Bull Terriers, and Jack Russells. It is common belief that their hearing problems may have to do with their white color.

A dog's hearing ranges from 40 Hz to 60, 000 Hz. Your pet dog can detect sounds as low as 20 Hz, which is that of a human and as high as 50,000 Hz. Pavlov, famous for making a dog salivate by ringing a bell, demonstrated that dogs react to sound at 75,000 hertz. Whatever the higher Hz range may be, their hearing is far greater than ours!

Puppies are born are deaf for the first 10 to 14 days of their lives. If the pups are not responding to sound after this time, then that may signal a hearing loss and your pet dog may be congenially deaf. A common problem with dogs is that they are prone to ear infections. Having your pet dog routinely checked and his ears cleaned regularly will help keep his hearing healthy and avoid a hearing loss.

So remember, if your pet dog has trouble listening have him or her checked by their vet right away. Keeping our pets healthy and protecting their superior hearing will let your dog lead a healthy, happy, and full of sound life.

Cited Sources:
http://www.lsu.edu/deafness/HearingRange.html
http://www.dermapet.com/articles/hearing.html
http://advance.uconn.edu/2007/070326/07032613.htm