Can dogs tell who’s talking? New research by Yong & Ruffman (2015) reveals that dogs can match male voices to male faces, but show less accuracy when it comes to females.
A fascinating 2015 study by Yong and Ruffman investigated whether dogs are capable of cross-modal gender recognition—specifically, whether they can match human voices to corresponding male or female faces. Conducted with 45 domestic dogs, the study presented neutral images of men and women alongside vocal playback of male or female speech. The results showed that dogs looked longer at the matching male face when a male voice was played, but this effect did not occur with female stimuli.
Interestingly, the research aligns with previous findings that dogs often display heightened vigilance or defensive behaviors toward males. This behavioural difference may stem from evolutionary, experiential, or perceptual roots. The study implies that dogs can integrate visual and auditory cues in ways that reveal surprising social sensitivity—especially when it comes to interpreting human males.
These insights add another layer to our understanding of how dogs process human social signals, with practical implications for dog training, socialization, and behavior assessments in both home and working environments.
Read via Brill Journals
