Listeners' Identification of Human-Imitated Animal Sounds

Abstract

To determine whether listeners can accurately identify human-imitated animal sounds, 20 speakers (10 females and 10 males) recorded their imitations of cows, cats, dogs, pigs, and sheep. These recordings were randomly arranged on a master tape and presented to 30 judges for identification. Analysis indicates that listeners can accurately identify various human-imitated animal sounds. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Humans Mimicking Animals: A Cortical Hierarchy for Human Vocal Communication Sounds

“…However, these comparisons did not always represent gradual categorical differences, especially when using broadly defined samples of “environmental sounds”. Thus, in the current study, we utilized animal vocalizations together with naturally-produced human-mimicked versions (Lass et al, 1983). Human-mimicked animal vocalizations acted as a crucial intermediate vocalization category of human-produced stimuli, acoustically and conceptually bridging between animal vocalizations and stereotypical human vocalizations.…”