A Science study from a team at Eötvös Loránd University found that dogs’ brains respond to recurring consonant patterns in continuous speech, suggesting they attend to the same acoustic cues humans use to parse words.
When presented with a continuous stream of made-up words, dogs’ brains showed a clear response to recurring consonants but not when vowels defined the words.
Consonants often carry more information about word identity across human languages, which may explain why dogs emphasize them despite their lower acoustic energy.
Learn how researchers found that dogs' brains use consonants to pick out patterns in speech, and what that could mean for the way your dog hears you.
(Mary Swift/iStock/Getty Images Plus) <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2026/09/DogPatternSpeech-1200x675.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Dogs Share a Speech Trick Once Thought Uniquely Human" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.scienceal
Man’s best friends process speech in a human-like way, researchers in Hungary have discovered, demonstrating an ability unique for any animal
Hooking up dogs to non-invasive EEG monitors has helped identify exactly which component of human speech the animals are most attuned to
Собаки способны выделять отдельные слова из непрерывного потока человеческой речи, причем делают это отчасти похожим на годовалых детей способом. Ученые выяснили, какие именно звуки помогают животным понять, где заканчивается одно слово и начинается другое, сообщает Lada.kz.
A new study using MRI brain scans found dogs can distinguish between several human emotions, offering fresh insight into canine behavior.
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.