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Pet Sounds (Literally): Music Made for Cats

February 18, 2023

Music and cats — the only two consistent things in my life that bring me joy, and possibly yours too. And perhaps, you too have tried to share your love of music with your cats as a form of affection only to be met with a scowl and pinned back ears.

There’s now a solution in the form of species-appropriate music: Music for Cats by composer and scientist David Teie.

It’s well established that listening to music reduces anxiety and blood pressure, while improving sleep quality, mood, and mental alertness (Keep Your Brain Young with Music, 2022). The question many pet owners ask is whether music has the same effect on them as it does for us. 

 

The Ex-purr-iment

Researcher Ronald Koh wondered the same — how do cats physiologically and behaviorally respond to music? In his experiment, cats were randomly assigned to 20 minutes of either cat-specific music, classical music, or no music. Cat stress scores were recorded before and after a physical exam at a veterinarian’s office: pretests showed no difference in stress levels between the three stimuli; however, scores significantly decreased after the examination for those who listened to music made for them! The team even observed less stress-related behavior in those who listened to music incorporating features relevant to cats (Hampton et al., 2019). Beats similar to their resting hear rate, cat-related sounds like purring and suckling, and frequencies within their vocal range most effectively reduced stress levels (Solis-Moreira, 2022).

Mew-sic to their Ears

Much like white noise, it would make sense that cat music mimics the calming sounds of the womb. However, the size of a newborn cat’s brain is a mere ⅛ of its full size, whereas a newborn baby’s brain is ¼ of average adult size. Therefore, a more relevant sound to developing cats would be suckling. David Teie — the father of species-specific music — designed Music for Cats on the basis that each species responds to sounds in an intuitive, biological way. As a highly experienced composer and dedicated cat lover, he used the sounds of relevant stimuli which kittens would have heard as they were developing (The Science: Music For Cats: David Teie, n.d.).

Con-claw-sions

A study conducted at the University of Wisconsin supported his premise, concluding that cats did indeed show a significant preference for their customized music. 

Response latencies were significantly shorter to the music composed for cats than to human music. Cats showed significantly more orient and approach responses to music composed for them compared to music composed for humans.

The Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery also confirmed that Music for Cats has the ability to decrease cats’ stress levels and in turn improve the care received by vets in clinics.

What do you Pre-fur?

Music can even be designed to include structures that elicit approach, or be arousing or calming. It’s especially important to understand cats’ pitches, calls, and specific features to compose music that will obtain a certain behavioral effect. To make your cat more active, you can select sounds of alert calls and the environment. To calm an agitated animal, you can choose melodic vocalizations and rewarding sounds (Snowdon et al., 2015).

From Paw McCartney to Meowly Cyrus

If you’re planning to take your cat to the vet soon, do yourselves a favor and tune in to a Teie album on your drive.

Music for cats is just one piece in the puzzle that is environmental enrichment for cats. It might just work to reduce stress and aggression related to new people and places (Solis-Moreira, 2022).

Here, have a listen (Warning: Not for Human Consumption): David Teie – Music for Cats

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About Author

Hi everyone. My name is Julia, and I am a second year CS major. I joined StemComm and the Charged team to share my interests in food science, psychology, and computing!

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  Timothy Durham was convicted of rape when a test showed his DNA genotype matched the DNA recovered from the crime scene. Eye witnesses testified that Durham was in a different state at the time of the incident, but he wasn’t exonerated from his 3000 year sentence until follow up DNA analysis showed that the preliminary forensic analysis used in the trial was misinterpreted (Thomas et al.). DNA testing serves an invaluable part in our criminal justice system, but it comes with complications and bias that can lead to wrongful convictions and misinformed juries.  

Background:

Forensic genetics aims to identify the origin of a biological sample. It can be traced back to Karl Landsteiner who discovered human ABO blood groups. With blood groups, suspects could be eliminated based on their blood type. For example, if a suspect had type A blood and there was type B blood left at the scene by the perpetrator, the investigators could rule out the suspect. Unfortunately, the reverse didn’t work. If the suspect and perpetrator both had the same blood type, it can’t be concluded that the suspect was guilty. Blood identifiers evolved into 8 distinct categories which improved the ability to eliminate suspects, but could only conclude that (if the system matched) it might be the perpetrator or this person might be related to the perpetrator (Jobling and Gill). The field evolved in the 1980s with the discovery of Minisatellites, lines of repetitive DNA that don’t encode proteins. Minisatellite patterns in DNA create what we know today as the DNA fingerprint, and it has a much higher accuracy rate than previous methods (Augustyn et al.). Around the same time, a breakthrough for victims of sexual assault was discovered. In the case of assault, bodily fluids of both the victim and the assaulter can get mixed. A process called differential lysis was created which could selectively increase the concentration of sperm in a fluid sample thereby allowing for accurate DNA testing (Jobling and Gill). Forensics evolved to use single-locus probe testing after several years because of its ease of interpretation. It looked at specific minisatellites that had high variability between subjects. This was the first DNA-based method to be used in a criminal investigation. Two murder homicides from several years apart were connected using DNA evidence. The evidence was then used to exonerate an innocent man, and the guilty party was found when he tried to evade mandatory DNA testing for all men in the small town. His guilt was then reinforced when the DNA profiles matched, and he gave a confession (Jobling and Gill). Finding DNA at a crime scene doesn’t guarantee that you’ll find a murderer. There are issues with non-pure samples and limited samples that make DNA work difficult, and accreditation of facilities and new techniques and take time (Jobling and Gill).  

Subjectivity of DNA Interpretation:

In a 2009 publication, the National Academy of Science discusses the possibility for subjective influence in lab based forensics. The interpretation bias happens in complex cases where, for example, there could be a mixture of DNA. A study published in 2011 looked specifically at this issue. A gang rape happened in Georgia, and the mixture in DNA from the case was used to prosecute one suspect after another suspect took a plea bargain to testify against him. With DNA mixtures, there are three possible conclusions: suspect excluded, suspect cannot be excluded, and inconclusive. If the suspect is excluded, it means that there’s little to no possibility that his DNA is part of the sample. If the suspect cannot be excluded, it means that there’s a possibility that his DNA is part of the sample. In the trial, the DNA examiners who knew the context of the case concluded that the suspect being prosecuted could not be excluded. The 2011 study gave the DNA evidence from this case and the DNA profiles of the suspects to 17 forensic examiners. These examiners had no context of the case, and they all worked independently. Of the 17, only 1 came to the same conclusion (suspect cannot be excluded) as the examiners who knew the context of the case. Twelve of the 17 concluded that the suspect who was prosecuted and convicted had no relation to the DNA found in the sample. Not only does this show that subjectivity occurs due to the context of the case, but the 17 examiners came up with different findings based on their past experiences meaning that not all DNA analysis is objective. Some organizations like the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods say that quantitative statistical evidence should be presented with every categorical conclusion, but the US doesn’t require this (Dror and Hampikian).

False Positives:

There are two categories that cause wrongful identification in a DNA report: coincidental matches and false positives. Coincidental matches are DNA matches between two unrelated people. The probability of these matches is about 1 to 500,000 for white individuals and about 1 to 350,000 for black individuals. This small probability of coincidental matches makes people feel confident in DNA evidence. False positives, on the other hand, are matches between DNA and test DNA that result from issues in the forensics lab. There have been multiple cases of forensics labs accidentally switching victim and suspected rapist DNA which lead to convictions that were later overturned when the lab realized the error. There are also cases of misreading or misunderstanding a sample. In a case from 1993, a man was convicted of rape because someone interpreted a mixed sample of victim and perpetrator DNA as an individual sample. The conviction was again overturned. To prevent false convictions, retesting DNA is allowed, but it’s not an efficient solution. Many people are pushing for statistical information on the probability of false positives, so that the jurors can make accurate judgements based on DNA evidence (Thomas et al.).  

Conclusion:

DNA analysis is a useful tool for the criminal justice system, but subjectivity can be an issue in forensic testing. To combat wrongful convictions, there are organizations like The Innocence Project who use DNA testing to free the innocent, but reformed forensic testing standards should be put in place to prevent subjectivity and to ensure juries are correctly informed during trials. https://www.innocenceproject.org/    

Citation:

Augustyn , Adam, et al. “DNA Finerprinting.” Encyclopedia Britannica , 26 Apr. 2018, www.britannica.com/science/DNA-fingerprinting#ref153186. Dror, Itiel E., and Greg Hampikian. “Subjectivity and Bias in Forensic DNA Mixture Interpretation.” Science & Justice, vol. 51, no. 4, 2011, pp. 204–208., doi:10.1016/j.scijus.2011.08.004. Jobling, Mark A., and Peter Gill. “Encoded Evidence: DNA in Forensic Analysis.” Nature Reviews: Genetics, vol. 5, no. 10, Oct. 2004, pp. 739–751., doi:10.1038/nrg1455. Thompson, William C, et al. “How the Probability of a False Positive Affects the Value of DNA Evidence.” Journal of Forensic Sciences, vol. 48, no. 1, Jan. 2003, pp. 1–8., doi:10.1520/jfs2001171.