Does listening to our TVs and stereos damage our pets' hearing?
 

It's my understanding that dogs, and especially cats, have a much better hearing capacity than humans.

Therefore, are pets' hearing being damaged when we humans listen to TVs and stereos at a level that is comfortable to us, but potentially deafening to them?

So far I've had dogs and cats that would nap on my lap as I watched TV or listened to pretty loud music, louder than a lot of people would listen, without appearing uncomfortable in any way that I could see. I know the frequency range of their hearing goes higher than humans, but just from my observation they seem to have more tolerance for loudness, too. Maybe we'll hear from a couple veterinary audiologists here.

our cats going deaf in her old age.. she's 18

I would think ultrasonic devices (if loud) and machines are more harmful.
Some dogs & cats hate vacumn cleaners.
Perhaps some make very high frequency noise that is disturbing.

My parents' poodle unfailingly sings along (I call it howling) to one song, Edelweiss from The Sound of Music, and one particular commercial jingle. They did not teach her this behavior.

Nothing else causes her to even raise an eyebrow, so there must be some sort of aural discrimination in a dog's brain. Which would mean to me that they are affected by noise, and I would guess they'd let you know if it bothered them. If the dog or cat don't react or run from the room, then I would assume they're OK with the noise level.

If it was hurting their ears they'd leave..

I might be wrong but my understanding is that the frequency hearing range in dogs is what is greater than humans not their sensitivity to sound. This just means that dogs have the ability to hear more frequencies than humans not that their ears are necessarily more sensitive. I would assume that dogs have a different peak range of hearing than humans but I have no evidence to base this assumption on. Either way, I would not fear for your dogs hearing unless he/she gives you reason to suspect a deficiency or if your dog runs away from a sound as if it bothered him/her.

I have often wondered this myself. I have always taken care
not to blast my pets with loud noises. I would assume it would bother them at least as much as it does us.

I don't know about volume, but there are a few albums that send my cat up the wall. She will sit on top of the (seperate) super tweeters and bat at them. Pink Floyd usually works best.

Your cat is as old as mine, though my cat's hearing is still fine. Sometimes her equilibrium gets a little off but otherwise she's still pretty damn spry.

My cat just turned 17, and his hearing is fine. He's always around when I blast my music too, he even sits on the subwoofer.

I was also under the impression that loud music and such can damage a pets hearing . . . bottom line: if someone is playing music or the TV really loud, chances are, they are damaging pets hearing and their own.

Sweetpea