Behavioral observational audiometry is applied to study the hearing function of preverbal children aged less than 6 months. We hypothesized that this method could be used to assess hearing threshold in untrained companion dogs. The small number of studies that examine untrained behavioral responses to sounds have not described determination of hearing threshold using this methodology....
No actionable change for human audiology practice; this is a cross-species methodology study with no direct implication for patient care.
Extending validated pediatric audiometric methods to veterinary populations could broaden the scientific understanding of behavioral audiometry and open cross-disciplinary research collaborations.
- 01Behavioral observation audiometry (BOA), used for preverbal infants <6 months, is adapted for companion dogs.
- 02The study explores cross-species validity of BOA methodology.
- 03Non-invasive behavioral responses to sound are used as hearing indicators in dogs.
- 04Findings may inform comparative audiology and animal welfare assessment.
- 05No direct clinical application for human audiology practice at this stage.
Behavioral observation audiometry methods developed for preverbal infants can be adapted for use in companion dogs.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42131778
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.applanim.2026.107010.
- Journal
- Applied Animal Behaviour Science
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Companion dogs
- Intervention
- Behavioral observation audiometry adapted from infant hearing testing protocols
Primary outcomes
Feasibility and reliability of behavioral observation audiometry in dogs; Characterization of behavioral responses to auditory stimuli