AI Analyses Your Dog’s Barking Noise

An AI from the University of Michigan can help you understand your dog’s barking noise.

• Researchers repurposed existing speech recognition models for humans due to the lack of a dog-specific one.
• The AI model had 70% accuracy on average in dog barks tests.

University of Michigan researchers have developed an AI that helps understand what a dog’s barking noise means, perhaps helping vets understand their canine patients.

Over time, dog owners, groomers, and doctors have learned the non-verbal cues that man’s best friend exhibits, including how a tail wags.

However, we never stopped wanting to communicate with them as we communicate with one another. One lovely human even taught her dog, a sheepadoodle named Bunny, how to talk with buttons. And now that we have AI, why not put it to good use? Perhaps, understanding dogs’ barking noise will be the key to better medicating them.

A Communicative Bark

These scientists repurposed existing computer models that have been trained on human speech since nothing similar for dogs exists. To circumvent this, the team collected all the noise dogs make, including barking, whimpering, growling, and whining, from 74 furry subjects presenting different breeds, ages, and sexes. A nice, diverse dataset. The team found the AI model to be 70% accurate on average across various tests.

University of Michigan AI Laboratory head Rada Mihalcea explained to the BBC, “Our results show that the sounds and patterns derived from human speech can serve as a foundation for analyzing and understanding the acoustic patterns of other sounds, such as animal vocalizations.” The team hopes to expand this tech to understand various other animals so that animal welfare can improve.

That Dog Can Talk!

Imagine this. You’re taking your daily walk, basking in the silence of the early morning. Suddenly, you hear something coming from behind the dumpster. Being the curious person that you are, you go to inspect, finding a dog. A dirty, hungry dog scared out of its mind. You decide to take in the little stray guy. But first, to the vet!

An AI that can get all that information from a dog’s barking noise can tell your vet exactly what you are dealing with in terms of physical and mental health. Knowing the breed is essential to this, as every breed comes with its host of health issues and requirements to remain virile and strong. Age also plays a factor in the medical history of your new four-pawed friend. With age, a dog’s dietary requirements, exercises, and care change.

Dogs are some of the purest little creatures on Earth, and they deserve to be treated as such.

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