How do dogs bark?

Introduction

Dog barking is a complex vocalization that serves various communicative purposes. Research has explored the acoustic properties of barks, their emotional content, and their context-specific variations. Understanding how dogs bark and the information conveyed through their barks can provide insights into canine communication and its impact on humans.

Key Insights

Acoustic Parameters and Emotional Content:
- High-pitched barks are often perceived as annoying and are associated with negative emotional states such as fear or desperation .
- Low-pitched, harsh barks are typically linked to aggression and are also found to be unpleasant by human listeners .
- The tonality and inter-bark intervals significantly influence the perceived emotional content, with shorter intervals indicating aggression and longer intervals indicating less aggressive states.
Context-Specific Barking:
- Dogs produce different types of barks depending on the context, such as encountering strangers, being isolated, or during play. Disturbance situations elicit harsh, low-frequency barks, while isolation and play situations result in higher-pitched, more tonal barks .
- Hunting dogs bark differently when encountering various animal species, with more distinctive barks produced during encounters with dangerous animals like wild boars.
Human Perception and Annoyance:
- Humans can categorize dog barks based on their acoustic properties and often find high-pitched barks more annoying. This annoyance is correlated with the perceived negative emotional state of the dog .
- The degree of annoyance caused by barks does not significantly differ based on the listener's residential area or experience with dogs, but younger adults and men tend to find high-pitched barks more annoying .
Intra-Species Communication:
- Dogs can discriminate between barks from different individuals and contexts, suggesting that barks carry specific information that is understood by other dogs .

Conclusion

Dog barking is a multifaceted vocalization influenced by acoustic parameters, context, and the dog's emotional state. High-pitched and low-pitched barks convey different emotional messages, with high-pitched barks often perceived as more annoying by humans. Dogs also use barks to communicate specific information to other dogs, varying their barks based on the situation and the presence of different stimuli. Understanding these nuances can help in better managing and interpreting dog behavior.

Summary

Introduction

Key Insights

Conclusion

Sources and full results

A bark of its own kind – the acoustics of ‘annoying’ dog barks suggests a specific attention-evoking effect for humans

High-pitched dog barks are the most annoying for young adults, with unique acoustic structures (high pitch, low tonality) suggesting a strong attention-eliciting effect.

Acoustic parameters of dog barks carry emotional information for humans

Acoustic parameters of dog barks strongly affect human emotional perception, with low pitched barks indicating aggression and high pitched barks indicating fear or despair.

Hunting dogs bark differently when they encounter different animal species

Hunting dogs can distinguish between different animal species based on their barks, with the most distinctive barks produced during encounters with wild boars.

The communicative relevance of auditory nuisance: Barks that are connected to negative inner states in dogs can predict annoyance level in humans

High-pitched dog barks are the most annoying to humans, with acoustic features selected for effective vocal signaling potentially being annoying for human listeners.

Dogs discriminate between barks: The effect of context and identity of the caller

Dogs can distinguish between conspecific barks in different contexts and individuals, suggesting that dog barks carry context- and individual-specific information for conspecifics.

Barking in domestic dogs: context specificity and individual identification

Dog barks can be divided into subtypes based on context, with harsh, low-frequency, unmodulated barks more common in disturbance situations and tonal, higher-frequency, modulated barks in isolation and play situations.

Barking and mobbing

Barking in many animals, including dogs, is associated with mobbing behavior and the motivational states associated with mobbing.

The Barking Dogs

Dogs bark to communicate with their owners, and their barking can be a sign of distress, hunger, or thirst, or a medical condition.

Dogs can discriminate barks from different situations

Dogs can distinguish between barks from different situations, suggesting barking is a communicative tool for both dogs and humans.

A new perspective on barking in dogs (Canis familiaris).

Barking in dogs is influenced by social environment and developmental factors, suggesting it may be a more complex form of communication than previously thought.

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