Scientists have dubbed the phenomenon of humans being able to pick up on their own names being called amid noise and chaos “the cocktail party effect.” Now research has revealed that dogs can hear their own name even better than human babies.
Scientists at the University of Maryland found that dogs can hear their name being spoken at the same volume or louder than background noise.
The dogs recognized their own names even when spoken by an unfamiliar voice or over a loudspeaker, which suggests they were not just responding to a person’s body language or tone of voice.
This is valuable knowledge for people handling service dogs and working dogs who may need to take commands from people who are not their owners.