Turns out dogs love baby talk after all and we've got science to prove it

It's official. If you use that higher-pitched, overly-emphasized voice when speaking to a dog, they usually love it.

Let's back up a second and discuss what "baby talk" actually is. Often known by linguists as "motherese" (or more recently, "parentese") and by child development researchers as "child-directed" speech, this involves talking in a "high pitch and exaggerated intonation." According to psychologist Anna Fernald's article "Four-Month-Olds Prefer to Listen to Motherese" on ScienceDirect, "fourty-eight 4-month-old infants were tested in an operant auditory preference procedure. Infants showed a significant listening preference for the motherese speech register."

Mother and baby. Photo by Ana Tablas on Unsplash

But back to those dogs. Newer research shows that they like a cutesy voice, just as babies do. According to a 2023 article in The Independent, the journal Communications Biology compares the brains of infants and dogs. In terms of directed speech for babies, "Such speech has previously been found to be very important for the healthy cognitive, social, and language development of children, who are also tuned to such a high-pitched voice."

A large white dog standing on top of a grass covered field Photo by Artem Kniaz on Unsplash

"But researchers, including those from the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, hoped to assess whether dog brains are also sensitive to this way of communication."

So, they studied dogs while they were awake and had them listen to "dog, infant, and adult-directed speech recorded from 12 women and men in real-life interactions." They then measured their brain activity using fMRI scans and found "the sound-processing regions of the dogs’ brains responded more to dog- and infant-directed than adult-directed speech."

It gets even more specific. "Scientists also found dog- and infant-directed speech sensitivity of dog brains was more pronounced when the speakers were women, and was affected by voice pitch and its variation."

In a 2018 article, "Study Shows Dogs Really Do Respond to Baby Talk," from American Kennel Club's site, writer Linda Lombardi shares, "Researchers at the University of York in the United Kingdom tested two different types of speech on dogs. One type was a normal, conversational tone you’d use when speaking to another adult, with subject matter pertaining to human-oriented topics. The other was what researchers called 'dog-directed speech,' using exaggerated intonation when talking about dog-relevant subjects, like treats and walks."

In one experiment, they played recordings for leashed dogs. The study states they, "measured how much time they spent looking at each person while the speech was being played. After the recording ended, the dog was allowed off-leash, and the time spent with each person was measured. Researchers found that dogs spent more time looking at the person who spoke in baby talk, as well as more time sitting with that individual once the recordings were over."

dog pug live GIFGiphy

In a second test, researchers wanted to see if the subject matter would inspire the dogs' reactions. The researchers tried "baby talk paired with human topics." In this recording, "normal conversational intonation was used to discuss walks and treats. In this experiment, the dogs had no preference, showing that the combination of baby talk and dog-relevant subject matter was needed to keep their attention."

In other words, while dogs do respond to baby talk, they also perk up when words like "treat," "walkies," and "go for a ride" get thrown around.

So, if you find yourself calling your pup a "wittle tiny baby," you're probably not alone. These TikTokers sure had fun showing how their dogs responded with the "mindful coding" baby voice.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com