特定于貓的音樂能讓寵物平靜下來

特定于貓的音樂能讓寵物平靜下來

Earlier this year, Spotify announced their “Pet Playlists” – a collection of songs tailored to your pet’s personality. According to Spotify’s algorithm (which also takes into consideration your music tastes), my shy, apathetic cat would apparently enjoy listening to Miley Cyrus and Franz Ferdinand. However, a scientific study may provide an alternative tune to help relax your feline, particularly during stressful visits to the vets.

今年早些時候，Spotify宣布了他們的“寵物播放列表”——根據(jù)寵物的個性量身定制的歌曲集。根據(jù)Spotify的算法(它也會考慮你的音樂品味)，我那只害羞、冷漠的貓顯然會喜歡聽麥莉•塞勒斯和弗朗茨•斐迪南的歌。然而，一項科學研究可能會為你的貓咪提供另一種放松方式，尤其是在去看獸醫(yī)的時候。

Inspired by the increased use of music in human medicine to provide a range of benefits, the impact of music on animals has also been studied. From dogs to tamarins, calmer behavior and reduced stress have been observed in response to music. Previous studies on cats have also noted a relaxing effect, notably when exposed to classical music, compared with pop and heavy metal.

在人類醫(yī)學中越來越多地使用音樂來提供一系列益處，受此啟發(fā)，人們還研究了音樂對動物的影響。從狗到絹毛猴，人們觀察到它們對音樂的反應更平靜，壓力也更小。之前對貓的研究也發(fā)現(xiàn)了放松的效果，特別是當與流行音樂和重金屬音樂相比，接觸古典音樂時更放松。

However, scientists at Louisiana State University have added a new dimension to these studies, by measuring the effect music composed specifically for cats, has on them. Published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, the authors measured stress indicators of 20 cats who experienced different soundscapes in three fortnightly trip to the vets. Prior to, and during, physical examinations, the cats either listened to silence, Gabriel Fauré’s Élégie, or the feline-specific banger, Scooter Bere’s Aria by David Teie.

然而，路易斯安那州立大學的科學家們?yōu)檫@些研究增加了一個新的維度，他們測量了專門為貓咪創(chuàng)作的音樂對它們的影響。這項研究發(fā)表在本月的《貓科醫(yī)學與外科雜志》上。在體檢之前和期間，貓咪們要么聽《沉默》，加布里埃爾·福爾的《挽歌》，要么聽大衛(wèi)·泰伊的《司庫特·貝爾的詠嘆調(diào))，這兩首歌都是針對貓科動物的。

Many musical pieces that are pleasing to humans have a beat similar to the human resting pulse (around 66 beats per minute), and contain frequencies from the human vocal range. Applying these principles to the world of cats has resulted in this undeniably hypnotic track.

許多令人愉悅的音樂作品的節(jié)拍與人類的靜息脈搏相似(大約每分鐘66拍)，并且包含了來自人類音域的頻率。將這些原則應用到貓的世界中，就產(chǎn)生了這種不可否認的催眠效果。

Katy Pallister

“This music contains purrs and suckling sounds made to sound like real cats and frequencies similar to cat vocal ranges, which are two octaves higher than human vocal ranges (55–200 Hz) and were found to be pleasing to cats,” the authors wrote in their paper.

研究人員在論文中寫道:“這種音樂包含了貓發(fā)出的呼嚕聲和吮吸聲，聽起來就像真的貓發(fā)出的聲音，其頻率與貓的音域相似，比人類的音域(55-200赫茲)高兩個八度，貓聽了很高興。”

Stress indicators of the cat were observed through video recordings of the examinations. This included a cat stress score, based on the behavior and body posture of the cats, as well as a handling scale score, based on the cats’ reactions to the handler. The researchers also measured the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, a biological marker of stress, in blood samples from the cat.

通過錄像觀察貓的應激指標。這包括一個基于貓的行為和身體姿勢的貓壓力評分，以及一個基于貓對處理者的反應的處理量表評分。研究人員還測量了貓血液樣本中的中性粒細胞-淋巴細胞比率，這是一種應激的生物標記。

Both the cat stress scores and handling scale scores were significantly lower when the cats were exposed to the cat-specific music, compared to silence and Fauré’s Élégie, indicating a decreased stress level. However, the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio did not echo this trend, as the feline music appeared to have no effect on the cats’ physiological stress response. On reflection, the authors suggest that the exposure time of 20 minutes wasn’t long enough to allow music to affect this measure. Further studies to evaluate the effect of cat-specific music on felines over longer periods of time is recommended.

與安靜和福雷的挽歌相比，當貓接觸特定于貓的音樂時，貓的壓力得分和處理量表得分都顯著降低，這表明壓力水平降低了。然而，中性粒細胞與淋巴細胞的比例并沒有順應這一趨勢，因為貓的音樂似乎對貓的生理應激反應沒有影響。經(jīng)過反思，作者認為20分鐘的暴露時間不足以讓音樂影響這種測量。建議進行更深入的研究，以評估特定于貓的音樂在更長的時間內(nèi)對貓的影響。

“The study has shown that cat-specific music can significantly lower stress-related behaviors in cats visiting the veterinary clinic for wellness examinations,” the authors concluded. “Adding cat-specific music to veterinary offices as environmental enrichment could provide great value to the cat’s welfare in the clinic, to the client’s comfort and confidence in the veterinary team and the veterinary team’s ability to accurately assess the patient.”

作者總結(jié)道:“研究表明，特定于貓的音樂可以顯著降低去獸醫(yī)診所進行健康檢查的貓的壓力相關(guān)行為。”“為獸醫(yī)診所添加特定于貓的音樂作為豐富環(huán)境，可以為診所內(nèi)貓的福利、客戶對獸醫(yī)團隊的舒適和信心，以及獸醫(yī)團隊準確評估病人的能力提供巨大的價值。”

Good news for cat-owners if you enjoyed the music. If not, there’s always Miley Cyrus.

如果你喜歡這首歌，這對養(yǎng)貓的人來說是個好消息。如果不喜歡，那麥莉·賽勒斯總沒錯。