• DVM360_Conference_Charlotte,NC_banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Conference Coverage
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Politics
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Hospital Design
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Conference Listing
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
CE Requirements by State
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Translating Fido's Bark

January 15, 2018
Amanda Carrozza

Progress is being made on developing a program to decode and translate dogs’ sounds and behaviors into English.

There is growing interest in and increasing research on the use of artificial intelligence to decipher animal communication. Developing and perfecting this technology would be so much more than a neat party trick. As work in some species has already shown, advancing knowledge in this area offers a greater understanding of how animals within a particular species communicate with one another. Looking to the future, the ability to translate dogs’ vocalizations and behaviors would provide veterinarians around the world with insight into canine anxiety, pain, and illness.

Leading the charge in translating Fido’s bark is Con Slobodchikoff, PhD, a professor emeritus of biology at Northern Arizona University. After developing technology that deciphered the calls of prairie dogs, Dr. Slobodchikoff now has set his sights on dogs. His plan? Gather thousands of videos of dogs barking and moving and use those images and sounds to create an algorithm that will decipher what the animals are communicating.

In the Amazon-commissioned report, Shop the Future, experts predict that this technology will be widely available by 2022. One of the report’s authors, behavioral futurist William Higham, specifically pointed to Dr. Slobodchikoff’s work as some of the leading progress toward creating an Amazon Echo that can translate barks and meows into English.

RELATED:

  • Acoustic Features of Dog Barks Predict Annoyance Levels in Humans
  • Could Your Dog's Tongue Be Telling You Something?
Advertisement

Past research, including work by Dr. Slobodchikoff, has demonstrated the power of human analysis and technology to translate the communications of several species.

Prairie Dogs

Dr. Slobodchikoff spent more than 3 decades decoding the high-pitched calls of prairie dogs. Through sound analysis, he discovered that prairie dogs alter their calls to relay specific details, like the size of an approaching predator or even the color of a human’s shirt. He even went so far as to team up with a computer scientist to develop a complex algorithm to translate the vocalizations into English.

Sheep

Veterinarians have developed various facial scales to detect pain levels in animals. But because this method relies on inference rather than hard data, computer scientists at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom set out to automate the process. They created an algorithm that could estimate sheep pain levels based on their facial expressions. While the researchers concluded that additional elements could be added to the algorithm to improve accuracy, they noted that the developed pain assessment approach is not specific to sheep and could be generalized for use with other animals.

Marmosets

In November 2017, researchers unveiled software that turns the sounds marmosets make into conversations scientists could read. Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the program detects a monkey’s call and turns the frequency patterns into black and white images. After collecting enough samples and fine-tuning the program’s accuracy, the developers were able to create a pattern of words that decode the conversations between marmosets.


Advertisement

Latest News

Kentucky Humane Society with Louisville Metro Animal Services to host mega adoption event

San Diego Zoo celebrates Andean bear cub twins

Spring’s pet toxins have sprung

IBPSA and Zoundz Music for Pets team up to reduce pet anxiety in pet care facilities

View More Latest News
Advertisement