This article is from WeChat public account: Kexuedayuan , author: Su Chengyu, title figure from: NPR

In life, cats show indifference and lofty attitudes to many things. So much so that when it comes to whether cats listen to music, everyone ’s reaction is: should cats not like listening to music?

Image source: AMY LOMBARD FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Not only is the public’s impression of cats listening to music, the existing scientific research on cats and music cannot prove that cats like to listen to music. Of course, this is not limited to the cat species. So far, although a lot of research has been done on different animal species using different survey strategies, there has been no unified answer. Some conclusions indicate that different species may like different types of music, and some conclusions indicate that animals are not only not interested in human music, sometimes even hate human music, and prefer to sit quietly.

But if you think about it, you may have this question: No matter whether animals like to listen to music, they will respond to music. Why?

The sound your homeowner hears may not be the same as what you hear

The hearing range varies between animals and humans. For cats, their hearing range is between 50 and 65,000 Hz, and for humans between 20 and 20,000 Hz. In other words, although humans and cats hear similar sounds at low frequencies, at high frequencies, cats can hear ultra-high sound ranges that humans cannot hear. And research has found that the frequencies of interest in the brains of different animals are also in different ranges, and the frequencies of interest to humans may not be the frequencies of interest to animals.

In a study in Nature Neuroscience in June this year, scientists measured the difference between human brain and monkey brain in response to sound. It was found that human auditory brain regions prefer harmonic sounds, but rhesus monkeys do not. This difference in listening preferences is essentially reflected in the differences in the brain. The auditory cortex tissues of humans and rhesus monkeys are not the same. This difference may be due to the unique importance of speech and music to humans. Maybe listen to human music to cats, just like you feed cats with pickles, it will just feel sick and vomit.

So cats don’t like to listen to music, they just don’t like to listen to the music you like. So, what music does a cat like?

Image source: catdailynews.com

What does the music for cats look like?

In this regard, musicians David Teie and Snowdon have said that the two have collaborated on species-specific music for more than a decade, from primates, rodents to birds.

Based on the research results of different animals, they have established a theoretical framework, that is, to make music resonate with a species, the rhythm and frequency range of this music must be in natural communication with the species The tempo and frequency ranges are similar. Later, they used this framework to create some species-specific music, including cute cats.

To write cats their favorite music, first experiment. Researchers found 47 pet cats, and let the cats stand in the company of the ownerIn a row, then start testing it with four different pieces of music and see how they react. Two of them are music written specifically for cats by Teie, and the other two are music for humans, namely Bach’s “Aria on the G String” and Fury’s “Sad Song”.

One of the music specifically for cats is called “Cozmo Air” (Cozmo’s Air) , using special instruments and tones Remix, the tune of this song has a grunt similar to a cat, and 44% of it has a glide. The so-called glide is a musical term and a phonological term that is found in a variety of different meowing sounds, but is not common in human speech.

The results show that cats show greater interest in music created specifically for them than human music. They are specific to the music of interest by making a grunt, pointing their heads towards the sound source and extending their heads forward, sniffing and listening to the music speakers.

Image Source: Literature 2

Later, Teie produced a special album for cats, (Music for Cats) .

Album cover (Image source: Amazon.com)

In the album, some songs have the sound of birds crying, and the rapid staccato is superimposed. This kind of music has the effect of energizing the cat; there are also some songs whose tracks are gradually increasing. Snoring and breastfeeding sounds are used to relax cats. For humans, these sounds do not seem to come from the real world and make people drowsy.

Of course this album doesn’t work in the end, everyone’s cats have to listen to it. Most cat owners commented on the album under “Cosmo’s Air”, and after listening to it, the cat wanted to sleep.

Image source: soudcloud.com Screenshot

When it comes to this, are you curious about how the music is going? Here is this song, you can try it for your own cat, remember to share the effect.

References:

1. http://www.xinhuanet.com/science/2019-06/13/c_138136868.html

2. Snowdon, CT, Teie, D., and Savage, M. (2015). Cats prefer species appropriate music. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 166, 106 –111. Doi: 10.1016 / j.applanim.2015.02.012

This article is from WeChat public account: Kexuedayuan , author: Su Chengyu