Dog-directed speech: why do we use it and do dogs pay attention to it?

Abstract

Pet-directed speech is strikingly similar to infant-directed speech, a peculiar speaking pattern with higher pitch and slower tempo known to engage infants' attention and promote language learning. Here, we report the first investigation of potential factors modulating the use of dog-directed speech, as well as its immediate impact on dogs' behaviour. We recorded adult participants speaking in front of pictures of puppies, adult and old dogs, and analysed the quality of their speech. We then performed playback experiments to assess dogs' reaction to dog-directed speech compared with normal speech. We found that human speakers used dog-directed speech with dogs of all ages and that the acoustic structure of dog-directed speech was mostly independent of dog age, except for sound pitch which was relatively higher when communicating with puppies. Playback demonstrated that, in the absence of other non-auditory cues, puppies were highly reactive to dog-directed speech, and that the pitch was a key factor modulating their behaviour, suggesting that this specific speech register has a functional value in young dogs. Conversely, older dogs did not react differentially to dog-directed speech compared with normal speech. The fact that speakers continue to use dog-directed with older dogs therefore suggests that this speech pattern may mainly be a spontaneous attempt to facilitate interactions with non-verbal listeners.

Using Principles from Applied Behaviour Analysis to Address an Undesired Behaviour: Functional Analysis and Treatment of Jumping Up in Companion Dogs

“…However, the play/control condition was conducted differently for dyad D05. Instead of playing with a toy, the dog was offered age-appropriate "rough-and-tumble" play with the owner, interspersed with 10 s intervals of "dog-directed-speech" [75], and 10 s intervals of not talking to the dog but continued play.…”

‘Who’s a good boy?!’ Dogs prefer naturalistic dog-directed speech

“…Ben-Aderet et al ( 2017 ) were the first to investigate both the production of dog-directed speech (DDS) and the behavioural response to DDS in puppies, adult dogs and older dogs. Acoustic analysis of DDS confirmed previous descriptions of the acoustic structure of this speech register, where DDS was higher in pitch, with more pitch variation over time, and higher harmonicity than ADS.…”

“…They also showed that human adults produced DDS to dogs of all ages. Crucially, Ben-Aderet et al ( 2017 ) then conducted playback experiments using the DDS and ADS recorded in the first part of the study to test dog responses to these types of speech. Stimuli consisted of repetitions of the phrase ‘Hi!…”

“…The authors conclude that puppies are highly reactive to DDS and that pitch is a key feature in modulating this preference, but that adult dogs do not react differentially to DDS and ADS. They argue that DDS may have a functional value in puppies, but not adult dogs, and therefore, the use of DDS with adult dogs may simply be a ‘spontaneous attempt to facilitate interactions with non-verbal listeners’ (Ben-Aderet et al 2017 , p. 1). It is, however, possible that alternative explanations of the null result with adult dogs exist.…”

Dogs do not demonstrate a human-like bias to defer to communicative cues

“…Through the process of domestication and extensive experience with humans, dogs have learned to interpret and rely on human communicative cues, including eye contact (e.g., Kaminski, Schulz, & Tomasello, 2012;Téglás, Gergely, Kupán, Miklósi, & Topál, 2012), high-pitched infant-directed speech (e.g., Ben-Aderet, Gallego-Abenza, Reby, & Mathevon, 2017;Rossano, Nitzschner, & Tomasello, 2014;Scheider, Grassmann, Kaminski, & Tomasello, 2011), and pointing (e.g., Hare, Brown, Williamson, & Tomasello, 2002;Lakatos, Soproni, Dóka, & Miklósi, 2009;Riedel, Schumann, Kaminski, Call, & Tomasello, 2008). Although it is difficult to fully disentangle the root causes of dogs' sensitivity to human communicative cues, it is clear that at least some of this sensitivity to human communicative cues arises from dogs' evolutionary history.…”