A new study published on Friday 12 April 2025, conducted by scientists at the University of Sussex and the University of Lincoln shows that dogs may be able to understand human speech even better than previously thought.
The study, published in Animal Cognition, shows dogs have the neurological capacity to pick out information relevant to them when ‘listening in’ on humans talking. And that they can do this even when the key words, such as their name, are contained within wider dialogue and when the human is not directly engaging with the dog.
Typically, when addressing dogs, humans use commands that are delivered in isolation and with an exaggerated intonation, known as dog-directed speech (DDS). They provide vocal cues to the animal to pay attention and closely resemble the “baby talk”, or infant-directed speech, used with young children.
53 dogs from a variety of breeds (from Dachshunds to St. Bernards) were recruited for the study and each heard a stream of speech which contained both relevant commands and irrelevant information, all spoken in a flat tone.
The animal behaviour psychologists found that the dogs consistently looked towards their owners when hearing a familiar phrase, demonstrating their ability to spot words and phrases that are meaningful to them, such as their name, even when they were not being directly addressed and when the owner’s voice was speaking in a dull, monotonous tone.
Lead author on the study, Professor David Reby, Visiting Professor at the University of Sussex where the research was initiated, said: “Our research shows that dogs are able to pick out and recognise words relevant to them in a monotonous stream of otherwise irrelevant speech, even in the absence of the intonation cues we usually use to engage them.
“While this could be as a result of domestication by humans, further research should be conducted on wolves and other wild species to test if they have similar abilities."
Researchers say that the findings also help to illuminate the evolution of language, as it proves that dogs can recognise words even when they have to search them out, and that an excited style of speech (prosody) is not required to get their attention.
Dr Holly Root-Gutteridge, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Lincoln, UK, started the research whilst at the University of Sussex, before moving to Lincoln where the research was completed. She said: “Dogs understand that we say their name to get their attention, and this is almost always paired with a happy ‘baby talk' speech register because dogs prefer it. We wanted to see if dogs were only responding to this happy voice or if they could recognise their name, even when it was buried in a sentence and delivered in a flat tone. The results show just how good dogs are at listening to us and how much they understand of what we say.
"This enhances our knowledge of how more complex communication and call sequences arose, which are necessary building blocks for language itself. This suggests that the ability to parse out complex communication, picking up meaningful fragments in babble, exists in a domesticated species rather than being special to humans."
The psychologists will next be testing the age that puppies become responsive to human speech.
This work supports the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 15 (research on life on land and our education on, and support for, land ecosystems). You can read more about our work on the SDGs here.