Hey, it's Flor Lictman, and you're listening to Science Friday.

Hi, I'm Paul. I'm calling from Davis, California. And my question is, what is it about dogs and cats

that makes them able to hear a much wider range of sound frequencies than humans.

Good question, Paul. Why do our fave animal companions seem to be able to hear things we can't?

Is it their ears? Is it their brains? And what would life be like if you could hear the world

through your dog's ears? Here to fetch us some answers is Dr. Pete Shifley.

He's a neuro-audiologist at the University of Cincinnati and the executive director of the Fetch Lab, an animal audiology clinic and research lab.

Pete, welcome to Science Friday.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

The Fetch Lab sounds like a pretty cool place to work.

Well, I and my medical and audiology students think so.

It's way out of the norm.

I mean, audiologists, you know, work with humans, but very, there's, we are the

first group to actually work with audiology of animals.

It's a one-of-a-kind lap.

Yes, absolutely.

Wow. Okay. Let's get to Paul's question.

First of all, do cats and dogs hear a wider range of frequencies than we do? Is that true?

Yes, absolutely. Humans can only hear frequencies from 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz. But dogs and to an extent cats can actually hear starting at 30 hertz but they can hear

all the way up to 57 kilohertz. So they're very on the high end of things. They have it covered

and we can't hear those frequencies. And what allows

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