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Are dogs much less sensitive to high noise than humans?

Pets Asked by trejder on January 11, 2021

I must admit (a bit shamefully) that I was not aware of the fact that volume is on a logarithmic scale and thus following sentence (source) surprised me:

The back seats are closer to 87 dBA, which is good for transporting dogs. A Honda Accord at 70 mph subjects its occupants to around 65 dBA of noise, or about 1/30th the noise level of Cirrus.

However, what actually shocked me, is the last part of the first sentence:

which is good for transporting dogs

If we assume that:

  • a Honda Accord at 70 mph (65 dBA) is quite noisy (quite very noisy?),
  • 22 dBA (87-65) difference is thirty times more (so quite very, very noisy)

then we may conclude that sound level inside this light aircraft’s cockpit offers circumstances that are very not comfortable, if not dangerous, to humans. In fact they actually are dangerous since most sources and organisations, that I reviewed, requires ear protection equipment for environment with sound level at or above 85 dBA.

How can such conditions be good for transporting dogs? Are they much less sensitive to (quite extremely) high noise?

One Answer

No, dogs are not more or less sensitive to sound than humans (dogs in general do hear about the same sound frequency range as we do), but their hearing is better so this is not about the sound level, it is more about the type of sound.

It is the rumbling sound made when you are driving on the motorway that can have a calming effect on your dog, it does have the same calming effect on babies if they refuse to sleep, many (desperate) parents do take their child on drives if they are having a hard time falling asleep.

The dog or baby will relax from the constant rumbling sound of the car moving, if you are at home you can even start your vacuum and let it run for some time until the dog or baby falls asleep.

Here is a link about sound https://www.earq.com/hearing-loss/decibels so as you see 65 dB is not very loud, so it is safe.

I have to say I do have some doubts about the sanity of a person exposing a dog or any other living being to a sound level of 87 dB over time, as this is very destructive; not only physically, but mentally too (I have lost most of my hearing as a result of loud sounds where I did work).

Correct answer by trond hansen on January 11, 2021

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