Can loud music hurt your dog's ears? What dogs hear

Very loud sound can harm a dog's hearing. In a study of dogs housed for months in a very loud kennel, every dog tested showed a measurable change in hearing. Nobody has studied music at home the same way.

This post covers what dogs actually hear, what the research says about loud noise, and how to tell whether your dog is comfortable with music.

What can dogs hear?

Hearing is tested by teaching an animal to respond to a tone, then turning the tone down until it stops responding. As far as we know, only two studies have done this carefully with dogs, with four and five dogs. That's a small base, but the findings agree on the broad picture.¹²

Three things follow from that.

Dogs hear much higher pitches than we do. Sounds between about 20 kHz and 45 kHz are silent to people and audible to dogs. That's the idea behind a dog whistle. The familiar "20 Hz to 20 kHz" range for people is a rough rule; only young, undamaged ears reach 20 kHz at all.

Dogs hear quiet sounds about as well as we do. A veterinary school summary of the original study puts dogs slightly ahead of people. The popular idea that dogs hear everything many times louder than we do isn't what these studies measured. They show a similar sensitivity, with the dog's best range shifted higher.

We hear deep bass better than dogs do. Dogs' hearing drops off below about 67 Hz, where ours still works. The researchers who compiled these ranges point out that people tend to overestimate how loud low sounds are to other animals. So the thumping bass you feel isn't the main thing reaching your dog. The higher parts of the music are.³

Size matters less than you'd think. The original study tested dogs from a 4.3 kg Chihuahua to a 45.5 kg St Bernard and found no obvious differences in their hearing.⁵

Dogs can also move their ears. Studies of other mammals show that pointing the ear toward or away from a sound changes how loud it is at the eardrum. It's one reason a dog should always be able to move away from a speaker.³

High-frequency sounds and dogs

Because dogs hear well above our range, some sounds in your home may reach your dog and not you. The researchers note that people need special equipment to detect sounds above 20 kHz that other animals hear easily. If your dog reacts to "nothing", a high-pitched sound you can't hear is one possible reason, though far from the only one (more on barking at 'nothing').³

Guérineau and colleagues also found their dogs surprisingly sensitive at 20 kHz, at the very top of human hearing. The study was small, but it's another sign that the high end of the sound spectrum matters to dogs.²

Can loud noise damage a dog's hearing?

The best evidence comes from kennels, which are very loud places.

• Shelters are very loud. Researchers who measured a newly built shelter found noise peaks that regularly went past the top of their meter's range. Most of that noise is barking.
• Months of it changed dogs' hearing. In a study of 14 dogs in a very loud kennel, researchers tested the dogs' hearing when they arrived and again 3 and 6 months later. After 6 months, every dog tested had a measured change in hearing. The authors said noise at that level would damage human hearing and could be considered dangerous for kennelled dogs too.⁶⁷

Keep that in proportion. It was a small study, in kennels, over months of loud barking. It wasn't about music, and it didn't test dogs in homes. We didn't find any study that tested how music at home affects a dog's hearing.

If you think your dog's hearing has changed, talk to your vet.

Is loud music bad for dogs?

Hearing aside, loud and hard-edged music seems to unsettle dogs.

• In a shelter study, heavy metal was linked to more barking. Classical music was linked to more resting and quiet.
• In a kennel study, heavy metal was linked to more body shaking, while classical meant more sleeping and less vocalizing.⁸⁹

Loud noise is also the most common thing dogs fear. In a study of 13,715 dogs, 32% were sensitive to noise, more than any other anxiety trait.¹⁰

So even if a party playlist doesn't harm your dog's ears, it may not be relaxing. If your dog leaves the room when the music starts, that's worth listening to.

How to play music around your dog

Here's what we'd suggest, based on what the research does show:

1. Don't use music to drown out noise. Calm music isn't a mask for thunder or fireworks. For masking, a fan in the room works better (more in our thunderstorm guide).
2. Let your dog leave. Don't shut your dog in a room with a speaker they can't get away from.
3. Watch your dog. Ears pinned back, moving away, panting, or not settling are signs to turn the music off. Researchers used the same kinds of signs to spot fear in dogs on New Year's Eve.¹¹

For loud events you can't control, Merck lists ear covers and noise-cancelling headphones among the options for noise-phobic dogs. Introduce anything on your dog's head slowly, on calm days.

Background, not a performance

Calm music for dogs is a background, not a performance. The shelter studies that linked classical music to more resting played it over speakers in the kennels, and the goal was a calmer room, not a louder one.⁸¹²

You also don't need special "dog frequencies". A review of the research found no extra benefit from music designed for dogs over ordinary classical music. The Barkwoo Music Box plays calming music; it isn't tuned for dog ears, and we won't claim it is.¹²

The Barkwoo Music Box clips onto any standard collar. It has a volume control. One button starts the preloaded playlist, with no phone, WiFi or app. You can preview the calming playlist before you decide, and read the calming-music studies. For more on which music, see do dogs like music? and classical, reggae or soft rock.

Quick answers

Can loud music hurt a dog's ears? Very loud sound over long periods can. Dogs kept for months in very loud kennels showed measurable hearing changes. There's no study of music at home.

What is a dog's hearing range? About 67 Hz to 45 kHz, compared with roughly 64 Hz to 23 kHz for people on the same scale. Dogs hear much higher pitches than we do.

Do dogs hear better than humans? They hear higher pitches, and they're slightly more sensitive to quiet sounds at some frequencies. People hear deep bass better.

Is it OK to leave music on for my dog? Calm music is a common choice, and shelter studies link classical music to more resting. Make sure your dog can move away from the speaker. See should you leave music or the TV on for your dog?

How do I know if my dog doesn't like the music? If your dog pins their ears back, leaves the room, pants or can't settle, turn it off.

References

1. Heffner, H.E. (1983). Hearing in large and small dogs: absolute thresholds and size of the tympanic membrane. Behavioral Neuroscience, 97(2), 310–318. doi:10.1037/0735-7044.97.2.310 ↩︎
2. Guérineau, C., Broseghini, A., Lõoke, M., Dehesh, G., Mongillo, P. & Marinelli, L. (2024). Determining hearing thresholds in dogs using the staircase method. Veterinary Sciences, 11(2), 67. doi:10.3390/vetsci11020067 ↩︎
3. Heffner, H.E. & Heffner, R.S. (2007). Hearing ranges of laboratory animals. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, 46(1), 20–22. PubMed 17203911 ↩︎
4. LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. How well do dogs and other animals hear? lsu.edu ↩︎
5. Mason, M.J. & Lewis, M.A. (2024). Structure and scaling of the middle ear in domestic dog breeds. Journal of Anatomy, 245, 324–338. doi:10.1111/joa.14049 ↩︎
6. Coppola, C.L., Enns, R.M. & Grandin, T. (2006). Noise in the animal shelter environment: building design and the effects of daily noise exposure. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 9(1), 1–7. doi:10.1207/s15327604jaws0901_1 ↩︎
7. Scheifele, P., Martin, D., Clark, J.G., Kemper, D. & Wells, J. (2012). Effect of kennel noise on hearing in dogs. American Journal of Veterinary Research, 73(4), 482–489. doi:10.2460/ajvr.73.4.482 ↩︎
8. Wells, D.L., Graham, L. & Hepper, P.G. (2002). The influence of auditory stimulation on the behaviour of dogs housed in a rescue shelter. Animal Welfare, 11, 385–393. doi:10.1017/S0962728600025112 ↩︎
9. Kogan, L.R., Schoenfeld-Tacher, R. & Simon, A.A. (2012). Behavioral effects of auditory stimulation on kenneled dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 7(5), 268–275. doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2011.11.002 ↩︎
10. Salonen, M., Sulkama, S., Mikkola, S., et al. (2020). Prevalence, comorbidity, and breed differences in canine anxiety in 13,700 Finnish pet dogs. Scientific Reports, 10, 2962. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-59837-z ↩︎
11. Gähwiler, S., Bremhorst, A., Tóth, K. & Riemer, S. (2020). Fear expressions of dogs during New Year fireworks: a video analysis. Scientific Reports, 10, 16035. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-72841-7 ↩︎
12. Lindig, A.M., McGreevy, P.D. & Crean, A.J. (2020). Musical dogs: a review of the influence of auditory enrichment on canine health and behavior. Animals, 10(1), 127. doi:10.3390/ani10010127 ↩︎
13. Borns-Weil, S. (2025). Behavior problems of dogs. Merck Veterinary Manual. merckvetmanual.com