Vocalization

Vocal ontogeny in Mus musculus

Infants of many species produce distress calls when in need of parental care. As they mature and gain independence from caregivers, juveniles stop producing infant calls and begin producing adult-like vocalizations in a variety of species-typical contexts. Neonatal house mice,...

Year Published: 2025Topics: VocalizationAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Pranic, N. M., Singh, R., Rabinovich, J. et al. 2025. Vocal ontogeny in Mus musculus. Animal Behaviour 230, 123376.

Distress calls as social stressors affecting chicken welfare

Social signals about current environmental risks can shape development in young animals. Distress calls made by young chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) may also encode affective state, with high arousal, potentially ‘anxiety-like’ state characterized by continuous calling, and learned helplessness or...

Year Published: 2026Topics: VocalizationAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Herborn, K. A., Wilson, B., Collins, S. A. et al. 2026. Distress calls as social stressors affecting chicken welfare. Biology Letters 22(1), 20250534.

Presence of ultrasonic noise in the housing colony affects behavior and physiology of adult Sprague Dawley rats

Perception is dictated by our sensory capabilities which vary widely across species. Hearing in humans is confined to a relatively narrow range, thus the presence of ultrasonic noise, sound with a frequency >20 kHz, is often overlooked. Concerningly, it has...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Husbandry & Management, VocalizationAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Bigelow, L. J., Pope, E. K., Sohasky, V. K. et al. 2026. Presence of ultrasonic noise in the housing colony affects behavior and physiology of adult Sprague Dawley rats. Physiology & Behavior 310, 115313.

Individually ventilated cages severely attenuate inter-cage ultrasonic vocalizations in rats

Individually ventilated cages (IVCs) benefit rodent and researcher health but may limit animals’ ability to communicate with cage-neighbours via ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). Despite USVs’ importance in rodent social behaviour, no previous research has investigated IVCs’ impact on between-cage USV transmission....

Year Published: 2025Topics: Housing, VocalizationAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Scott, K. J., Bilkey, D. K. 2025. Individually ventilated cages severely attenuate inter-cage ultrasonic vocalizations in rats. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 28(4), 730–739.

Recognition of domestic Felis Catus vocalisations using a computational associative model

The cat (Felis catus) lives around or with humans and is considered one of the most popular pets in the world. Domestic cats have an extensive and complex vocalisation repertoire, and little is known about the meaning of their vocalisations;...

Year Published: 2024Topics: VocalizationAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Morales-Rodríguez, Ú. S., Carbajal-Hernández, J. J., Luna-Benoso, B. et al. 2024. Recognition of domestic Felis Catus vocalisations using a computational associative model. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology 12(3), 2024020.

Hidden in plain sound: The scientific potential of house mouse squeaks

The house mouse (Mus musculus) is an emerging model organism for the study of vocal communication. While mice emit a diversity of calls, most publications on adult mouse vocalizations primarily focus on ultrasonic vocalizations and only a small proportion include...

Year Published: 2025Topics: VocalizationAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Keesom, S. M., Leuner, L. R., Hood, K. E. et al. 2025. Hidden in plain sound: The scientific potential of house mouse squeaks. Biology Letters 21(8), 20250333.

Anecdotal Observations of Socially Learned Vocalizations in Harbor Seals

Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) are more solitary than many other pinnipeds. Yet, they are capable of vocal learning, a form of social learning. Most extant literature examines social animals when investigating social learning, despite sociality not being a prerequisite. Here,...

Year Published: 2024Topics: VocalizationAnimal Type: Marine Mammal

Citation: Duengen, D., Polotzek, M., O'Sullivan, E. et al. 2024. Anecdotal Observations of Socially Learned Vocalizations in Harbor Seals. Animal Behavior and Cognition 11(4), 393–403.

Enriched social environment affects the utterance of acoustic signals of captive François’ langurs

Vocal communication serves as an important mode of interaction among animals. The quantitative analysis of acoustic signals holds scientific value in highlighting the importance of understanding the social-ecological contexts and their effects on acoustic communication. The results can provide a...

Year Published: 2024Topics: VocalizationAnimal Type: Nonhuman Primate, Other Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Xie, Y., Liu, Y., Li, Y. et al. 2024. Enriched social environment affects the utterance of acoustic signals of captive François' langurs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 277, 106351.

Feel-good songs: Application of a novel playback paradigm to induce a positive affective state in juvenile male Wistar rats

Across animal welfare science there is a lack of validated models of positive affective states. Previous work has shown that presentation of contrastingly valenced ultrasonic vocalisations (USVs) to rats alters their behaviour. However, the potential of using playback of USVs...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, VocalizationAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Hammond, T. J., Brown, S. M., Meddle, S. L. et al. 2024. Feel-good songs: Application of a novel playback paradigm to induce a positive affective state in juvenile male Wistar rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 275, 106296.

Utilizing vocalizations to gain insight into the affective states of non-human mammals

This review discusses how welfare scientists can examine vocalizations to gain insight into the affective states of individual animals. In recent years, researchers working in professionally managed settings have recognized the value of monitoring the types, rates, and acoustic structures...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, VocalizationAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Whitham, J. C., Miller, L. J. 2024. Utilizing vocalizations to gain insight into the affective states of non-human mammals. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 11.