If you were ever laying awake at night while your dog was barking you definitely asked yourself if he is hearing something that you aren’t. While the eyesight of dogs isn’t as developed as it is in humans, their hearing and sense of smell are so amazingly precise that they make up for all of that. But how far can dogs hear? And can they hear some sounds that we don’t?
The hearing ability of dogs
Did you ever notice how your dog hears a car coming up your street way before you do? But how is that possible? How far can dogs hear to be able to do that?
Dogs react to sounds much different than we do. Ever notice how their ears change position as soon as they think that they have heard something? They are actually using their ears to help them pick up on the new stimulus. They adjust the position of their ears and perk them up in order to hear better.
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You can also tell that your dog is hearing something by simply observing their body language.
Here are some signs you might notice when your dog is hearing something from a mile away:
- Raising his ears
- Becoming alert
- Panting
- Jumping up
- Guarding
Other signs include:
- Running to the window
- Trying to escape
- Seeking your attention
How far can dogs hear?
Now that we cleared up some of the questions on how do dogs hear, lets find out how far they can hear.
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First of all, let’s go over some basic anatomy of a dog’s ear. The ear of a dog is made up of three parts. The outer part consists of the pinna. The pinna is the part that amplifies sounds that our dogs hear and then transfers these sounds to their ear canal.
The middle part of a dog’s ear is made up of three really small and tiny bones, the eardrum and the Eustachian tube. The Eustachian tube connects the middle part of the ear to the back of your dog’s nose.
And then there is the inner ear that features the cochlea which is basically the hearing organ and also the vestibular system that helps your dog keep his balance.
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Additionally, there are about 18 muscles that will also help your dog control the direction and movement of his outer ear. These muscles allow your dog to perk up his ears whenever he is hearing something.
Even though anatomically speaking the ear of a dog is build very similarly to the one of a human, dogs can still hear much better than we do. And most of that is due to the way that their outer ear is formed. It’s estimated that a dog can hear four to five times better than a human.
Since a dog’s hearing ability is between four and five times more powerful compared to a human’s hearing ability, the average dog can hear sounds up to 80 feet to a mile away.