University of Wisconsin’s group of researchers realized that cats are probably not big Mozart fans. So instead, they decided on composing a special cat music. The music has been set an octave higher so as to make use of cats’ sensitive hearing. The tunes put together by the researchers sounds as if it’s a combination of scraping a string of violin and purring. Once cats listen to this music, they’ll be much more willing to interact with new pawrents, claimed the lead of the research.
What led you into creating such a tune for cats?
We have worked with tamarins for creating music based on the auditory range of monkeys. But then, we stumbled upon the fact that people turn the radio on for the pets when they leave them home – which we thought might not be good, or at least had no value. So this is when we decided to work on the subject.
What was the objective of this study?
Our aim was to examine whether music that is composed in a frequency range that cats use for communication, and with more feline-appropriate tempos, would appeal to felines more than the music us humans like. We also wanted to take note of any negative effects on cats resulting from music of either type.
Why are cats not fans of human music?
Naturally, their range of hearing and the range of tempos and frequencies which are used by them for communication are different than for us. We like the music we hear, and assume that cats might like it too. But that’s untrue.
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