According to a new study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Maryland, cats actually DO enjoy music. They just don’t enjoy YOUR music! Turns out, cats – and most likely other animals – prefer species-specific tunes. In other words, music of the same frequency range as the communication tempos used by them.
After lots of research, scientists have actually developed music specifically for cats – music that cats respond to!
Now, i wouldn’t have believed it but, I play music all day while I’m working and my cats ignore it. But, when I played the following clip, all of my cats perked up their ears to listen! Try playing it for your cats and let us know what happens:
The clip above is from a song titled “Cosmo’s Air.” It was composed by Teie. According to i09.com, the tune:
has a pulse related to purring of 1380 beats per min… with melodic sliding frequencies covering 44% of the sample” (sliding frequencies are found in a variety of cat vocalizations, but aren’t commonly found in human speech)
In order to test the theory that cats prefer species-specific music, researchers played this clip, another of Teie’s cat songs, and two ‘human’ songs to 47 domestic cats and evaluated their reactions to each piece.
“Cats showed a significant preference for and interest in species-appropriate music compared with human music,” the researchers write. Expressions of approval included purring, and orienting the head toward, moving toward, rubbing against, or sniffing the speaker from which the music was emanating. “The results suggest novel and more appropriate ways for using music as auditory enrichment for nonhuman animals,” the researchers conclude.
If you’re interested in hearing more of Teie’s kitty tunes, and downloading some for your cats, check out his website, musicforcats.com.
