Most people have a favourite type of music that they enjoy listening to. With a kaleidoscope of musical styles and genres to choose from, there is something for everyone! However, have you ever wondered if cats feel the same way about music as we do? Does Pachelbel's Canon in D strike a chord in their heart? Or do they enjoy listening to your favourite artists as much as you do?

Do cats enjoy music?

It's a Matter of Taste

The short answer is--it depends on what type of music! Human music is built primarily on notes within our vocal range and hearing range. We tend to enjoy music that mimics the human heartbeat and other naturally occurring rhythms. 

However, cats have very different vocal and hearing ranges than humans One 1985 US study found that domestic cats can hear sounds from 45 Hz to 85 kHz (which means 85,000 Hz!) This study concluded that domestic cats have “one of the broadest hearing ranges among mammals.”

This means that our music doesn't sound like pleasing music to cats. Although they can partly understand it, our music sometimes sounds like a jumble of noise to kitties.

A Revolutionary Idea

Composer and cellist David Teie of the National Symphony Orchestra has developed what he calls a "universal theory of music." He believes, "that our emotional connection to music is a response to a coordinated remix of sounds we learn in the womb."

Beginning in 2009 with tamarin monkeys, Teie experimented with the idea of creating music specifically tailored to an animal's normal vocal range and aural capabilities. He composed two songs from recorded tamarin calls. When tamarin monkeys listened to human music, they had little response to it. But they responded both behaviourally and emotionally to tamarin-based music. 

This led Teie to coin the term "species-specific music." His next project was to create music that would appeal to cats.

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Music Made for Felines

In 2014, David Teie joined forces with professor Charles Snowdon and undergraduate student Megan Savage. Teie's job was to create music that would appeal to cats. Snowdon and Savage would test it out in the real world. Instead of using cat sounds, David composed music in cat-appropriate tempos and used sliding pitches to mimic cat vocalization. When he had finished composing two cat-friendly songs, Snowdon and Savage tested them out (along with two "human" songs for a control) on 47 cats. 

The verdict? Cats prefer cat-friendly music to human music. "On average, the cats responded positively to the cat music in half the time it took for them to display any positive behavior towards the human music," Jacob Turner of Wisconsin Academy writes.

Encouraged by their success, Teie went on to produce a grassroots-funded album of music for cats. To the delight of kitties and their humans everywhere, it was released in November 2015. 

You can take a look at Music for Cats here -> https://www.musicforcats.com

Curious if your cat would enjoy this music? Try out this single from Music for Cats:

Let us know in the comments...how did your cat react?

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1. Turner, Jacob. "The Science Behind the First Species-Specific Composition" Accessed from https://www.wisconsinacademy.org/magazine/winter-2016/essay/music-cats on September 7, 2018.

2. Savage, Megan. Snowdon, Charles. Teie, David. May 2015. "Cats prefer species-appropriate music." Journal of Applied Animal Behavioral Science. Accessed from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016815911500060X on September 7, 2018.