Not just for humans!? A thorough explanation of why pets are soothed by listening to music

Healing Plaza July 18, 2025

＜The secret of soothing music that even pets can enjoy!＞

Recent research has shown that playing music to pets such as dogs and cats has a calming and relaxing effect on their psychological state.

The soothing effects of listening to music are not limited to humans.

This time, we will explain why pets are also soothed by listening to music.

Research overseas has shown that pets also have musical preferences.

According to a 2017 study by the Scottish SPCA, a Scottish animal welfare organization, conducted by the University of Glasgow, a Russell Group institution, positive behavioral changes were observed when dogs were exposed to certain genres of music.

Furthermore, the professor at the university commented that it is highly likely that dogs, like humans, have musical preferences.

The study showed that dogs responded most favorably to reggae and soft rock after listening to music from multiple genres, including reggae and pop music.

Furthermore, the dog did not bark while listening to the music and seemed to remain calm and relaxed throughout.

The study results did not include the specific artists or songs that were played for the dogs, but it is thought that, just like humans, pets may feel good and soothed when they listen to their favorite music.

Pets also engage in cognitive activities similar to humans, so their brain waves change when they hear sounds.

Since both pets and humans are animals with brains, the mechanisms of cognitive activity in response to audible sounds are similar, and it is believed that when pets hear certain frequencies, their brain waves fluctuate just like in humans.

According to the results of an experiment conducted by the University of Tokyo, when captive chimpanzees were exposed to audible sounds and their brain waves were measured, it was confirmed that their brain waves fluctuated and they engaged in cognitive activities similar to those of humans. [Note 1]

This experiment was the first in the world to successfully measure brain activity in a chimpanzee while it was awake and without anesthesia, and was conducted to accurately capture the cognitive activity of captive animals.

The experiment involved attaching electrodes to the heads of chimpanzees kept at a research center in Japan and measuring their brain waves when they listened to sounds of different frequencies.

In fact, when subjects were repeatedly exposed to a specific frequency followed by a deviant sound (a sound of a different frequency), their brain waves fluctuated and showed waveforms similar to those seen in similar experiments on humans.

The human brain emits different brain waves depending on the state of the mind and body, such as when relaxed or under tension or stress.

When you are relaxed, alpha waves are the main type of brain activity, while when you are stressed, beta waves become dominant. It is believed that listening to classical or nature sounds can induce alpha waves in the human brain.

The results of the aforementioned experiment suggest that humans and animals respond similarly to audible sounds in their brain waves, so it is believed that music that is relaxing for humans has a similar effect on pets.

However, animals such as dogs and cats have a wider hearing range than humans and some are more sensitive to changes in their surroundings, so if your pet appears unsettled when you play classical or nature sounds for them, you should stop listening to them.

Dogs can hear sounds from 67 to 45 kHz, while cats can hear sounds from 60 to 47 kHz, which is higher than humans.

The typical human hearing range is 40 to 17 kHz, with frequencies that are easiest for humans to hear being between 1 kHz and 3 kHz.

On the other hand, pets have a higher upper limit of their hearing range than humans, with the standard hearing range for dogs being 67-45 kHz and for cats 60-47 kHz.

Ultrasound is a high-frequency sound that humans cannot hear but pets can hear, and is used in fields such as medicine and jewelry processing.

Pets may also wait at the front door a little before their owners get home, as they can recognize and analyze sounds from farther away than humans.

When the owner is relaxed, the pet is relaxed too.

Pets tend to synchronize their psychological state with their owners, so if their owners are relaxed, their pets will also be relaxed.

Therefore, if the owner is listening to music and feels comfortable, the pet will also be able to relax without feeling stressed.

In particular, highly intelligent creatures, such as dogs, have a high ability to understand and empathize with their owners' emotions, so it is said that their personalities tend to resemble those of their owners.

If you want to listen to music together with your pet to soothe you, we recommend music that you find relaxing or classical music, which has the effect of eliciting "alpha waves."