Can Human Voices Change How Dogs Balance?

This is a summary of a recent article by Affenzeller et al. in Plos One. The authors wondered whether the tone of a human’s voice, like happy or angry, affects a dog’s balance while standing still. Healthy pet dogs were asked to stand on a pressure plate that measured how their bodies swayed when they heard happy voices, angry voices, or no sound at all.

Dogs use their muscles and senses to stay steady even when they stand still. Just like people, dogs rely on their eyes, ears, muscles, and inner sense of position to keep from falling over. In humans, sounds, especially emotional sounds, can change how balance works. But little was known about how sounds affect balance in dogs.

In the study, 23 dogs of different breeds were tested. Each dog stood on a pressure plate while listening to recordings of humans speaking in happy or angry tones, or no sound. The scientists measured how much the dogs’ center of pressure shifted as a way of seeing if their weight and balance changed.

When the dogs heard angry voices, their bodies showed more sway, meaning they had to work harder to stay balanced, compared with when there was no sound. This suggests an angry tone might make a dog’s balance a bit less stable. Interestingly, happy voices didn’t have as strong an effect overall, but individual dogs reacted differently; some dogs swayed more with happy voices and others less.

The researchers also found that how each dog responded varied a lot. Some dogs became more unstable, while others stayed steady. This shows that individual dogs may react differently to the emotional tone of human voices.

In plain terms, this study showed that emotional human sounds, especially angry ones, can influence how a dog keeps its balance. This doesn’t mean dogs fall over, but it shows that what we say and how we say it might affect a dog’s body in ways we don’t usually think about.

Based on article by Affenzeller et al. (Plos One 2026) “Effects of happy and angry human voice recordings on postural stability in dogs: An exploratory biomechanical analysis” from PLOS ONE (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0339979):