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Questions
- The effects of sound exposure
- Hazardous sound situations
- Understanding your pet’s hearing sensitivity
- Signs of hearing loss in your dog
- Sound safety pet products
- Tips to protect your pet from noise
As humans, we put our ears and their listening capabilities through a lot of pressure in every day life. Headphones have become a part of our daily uniform, listening to music or podcasts, and our socializing time is often spent at venues with loud music or deafening chatter. Precautionary measures to protect our ears are often overlooked, but the effects are lasting.
Just like how sound safety has to be considered for people, it is paramount to protect your pet’s ears and hearing. Your pet’s hearing is far more sensitive than yours, and lasting exposure to loud or surprising sounds can cause physical and emotional damage. Sudden or booming noises can frighten and shock, causing anxiety and stress which will affect them beyond this encounter.
The effects of sound exposure
Two common effects of poorly managed sound exposure are:
- Sound phobias which can in turn, affect their behaviour negatively.
- The prolonged exposure of noise at high volumes can result in hearing loss which will impact their quality of life.
This is why it is important to protect your pets’ ears and hearing, and to learn about sound safety for animals.
Hazardous sound situations
The most common situations that expose your pets to noise are:
1. Fireworks.
New Year’s Eve and Bonfire Night are two of the loudest nights of the year, and chances are your neighbours will light some fireworks.
2. Thunderstorms
Unfortunately, the only completely uncontrollable situation on this list is thunderstorms. The weather can be unpredictable, and is not something you can’t prevent.
3. Construction
Building sites are commonplace, particularly if you’re living in a city. Whilst they’re legally not allowed to work unsociable hours, the noises they produce can still cause anxiety in your pet during the day.
4. Social events
Whether you’re fond of taking your pooch to the pub or you’re hosting a party, just know the chatter of your friends and loud music will be overwhelming, scary and potentially damaging to your pets. This is a controllable situation if it’s hosted at your home.
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Understanding your pet’s hearing sensitivity
Your pet perceives sound differently from you due to their wide variation of hearing ranges and sensitivities. Humans can only hear sounds between 20Hz and 20,000Hz, whereas your pet can likely hear above and below that range. This does depend on the animal you own, which we’ve explained here:
- Dogs can hear from 40Hz to 60,000Hz, so they hear higher-pitched sounds which humans can’t.
- Cats can hear up to 64,000Hz, even higher than dogs!
- Rabbits can hear from 360Hz to 42,000Hz.
- Birds’ hearing range overlaps with humans but are skilled at detecting subtle sounds.
- Rodents can hear ultrasonic sounds above 100,000Hz!
Their sensitized hearing is to aid survival in the wild; being able to detect both predators and prey. However, this has meant domesticated animals react more severely to loud or sudden sounds which are also more commonplace in the human world.
It should be noted that whilst dogs may be capable of hearing higher frequency sounds, this does not mean they should listen, as it could cause them discomfort or pain.
Signs of hearing loss in your dog
There’s a few common signs that indicate your dog is losing their hearing, or may be deaf. Here’s what you can look out for:
- Unresponsive to their name or familiar words
- Excessive barking
- Easily startled when approached or stroked
- Lack of ear movement in response to sounds
Common sound-related risks for dogs
Regularly exposing your dog to loud noises and startling sounds has long-term risks such as:
- Anxiety and behavioural issues
- Hearing damage or loss
Sound safety pet products
There are some circumstances that are unavoidable when it comes to loud noises. In the event your furry friend is in or near a situation where sounds are loud, there’s a few pet noise anxiety solutions that can ease their anxieties and protect their ears.
Ear Muffs/Covers
Whether your neighbours have builders round or there’s a party going on, ear muffs or ear covers are a great way of offering additional protection to your furry friend’s ears.
Calming
For soothing sound-induced anxiety and stress, calming products like collars, diffusers and supplements are effective at easing your pet’s stress. Bonfire Night and New Year’s Eve are a typical time where loud and startling noises occur, so being prepared with calming pet products for noise is an organised way of ensuring your pet doesn’t become anxious.
Tips to protect your pet from noise
Here are some effective tips to help protect your pet from loud noises, such as fireworks, thunderstorms, or construction:
1. Make a safe space
Your pet needs to feel secure when they are present in anxiety-inducing situations. Choose a quiet spot to set up their crate or bed, and preferably where you will be staying too!
Make it familiar and cosy for your pet by adding blankets and their favourite toys.
2. Use background noise
Whether it’s calming music, TV shows or white noise at a moderate volume, this will help disguise the noise occurring elsewhere.
3. Your presence is key
You are your pet’s safety net! Your presence is reassuring, as is your calm and soothing voice.
Don’t scold your pet for their fear, but don’t over-comfort them either, as this will encourage them to recognise this situation as fearful.
4. Gradually de-sensitise
Slowly expose your pet over time to low volume recorded noise, and reward their calm responses.
To build their tolerance, gradually increase the noise volume.
5. Block external noise
Ensuring windows are closed and curtains are drawn helps reduce sound intensity and any visual side effects (such as lightning).
7. Stay indoors
Do not leave your furry friend outside during noisy situations, as they may bolt out of fear!
8. Microchipping & collar ID
Microchipping your cat or dog is the law, and an up-to-date collar tag is essential in case your pet bolts in panic.
It’s important to note that if these tips are not beneficial, or your pet’s noise anxiety is severe, you should talk to your local veterinarian for more training techniques or medication suggestions tailored to your pet.
Hopefully, you’ve got a broader understanding of your pet’s hearing and things you can do to support their wellbeing and protect their ears in loud situations. If in doubt, it’s always worth speaking to your local veterinarian for more advice relevant to your pet’s circumstances.
In the meantime, visit your local Jollyes for all of your pet essentials or have a sniff around online for great value products (and more paw-some advice articles like this one).