As the owner of a dog, I've learned to analyze the range of visual and auditory signals that dogs possess. When translated to human emotion, we infer fear, guilt, anger, and many others. In 2002, the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy released a device to "translate" the acoustic signals of man's best friend. BowLingual works by analyzing the target acoustic signal and then categorizing it into six broad categories of emotion: happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, assertion, and desire. To the untrained eyes (and ears) this device seems to be magical. Finally, the boundary between human and canine communication is becoming blurred through this awe-inspiring piece of technology. To owners of dogs, however, these signals are all too obvious. For us, even play-fighting and true aggression can be differentiated from each other. For us, BowLingual seems like a waste of money. In fact, BowLingual won the Ig Nobel Prize, a parody of the Nobel Prize awarded to the most trivial inventions. However, I'm not here to strip all credit away from BowLingual. It does take a bit of bioacoustic analysis to actually make this kind of device. Think RavenPro 2.0. Different dogs will produce signals at different frequencies and each individual dog has a vast array of bioacoustic signals that they are able to produce. To be able to take in all of that information and process it in a way that is clear for humans to read. For example whimpers are higher in frequency and lower in amplitude (or power) than barks or howls. BowLingual is able to process the relative frequencies and amplitude of relative to each dog and display that emotion on an LCD screen. Perhaps in the future, our species will be able to have a superdatabase of all of the acoustic (or otherwise) signals of every species and turn that into the human language. Until then, animal-to-human "translation" will just be an interesting speculation.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
As the owner of a dog, I've learned to analyze the range of visual and auditory signals that dogs possess. When translated to human emotion, we infer fear, guilt, anger, and many others. In 2002, the Japanese toy company Takara Tomy released a device to "translate" the acoustic signals of man's best friend. BowLingual works by analyzing the target acoustic signal and then categorizing it into six broad categories of emotion: happiness, sadness, frustration, anger, assertion, and desire. To the untrained eyes (and ears) this device seems to be magical. Finally, the boundary between human and canine communication is becoming blurred through this awe-inspiring piece of technology. To owners of dogs, however, these signals are all too obvious. For us, even play-fighting and true aggression can be differentiated from each other. For us, BowLingual seems like a waste of money. In fact, BowLingual won the Ig Nobel Prize, a parody of the Nobel Prize awarded to the most trivial inventions. However, I'm not here to strip all credit away from BowLingual. It does take a bit of bioacoustic analysis to actually make this kind of device. Think RavenPro 2.0. Different dogs will produce signals at different frequencies and each individual dog has a vast array of bioacoustic signals that they are able to produce. To be able to take in all of that information and process it in a way that is clear for humans to read. For example whimpers are higher in frequency and lower in amplitude (or power) than barks or howls. BowLingual is able to process the relative frequencies and amplitude of relative to each dog and display that emotion on an LCD screen. Perhaps in the future, our species will be able to have a superdatabase of all of the acoustic (or otherwise) signals of every species and turn that into the human language. Until then, animal-to-human "translation" will just be an interesting speculation.
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"BowLingual is able to process the relative frequencies and amplitude of relative to each dog and display that emotion on an LCD screen"--> How neat is that!!! I think it's super neat that the BowLingual machine is able to translate frequencies and amplitudes of dog vocalizations into emotions. Of course, you are right that dog owners are able to recognize the general meaning of dog vocalizations because we are constantly exposed to them, and based on the context and our dogs' body language we can pretty accurately 'get the message'. I guess the same thing goes for dogs- at least with my dog, I know that if he does something wrong and I scold him in an angry tone, he interprets my tone correctly and knows that he has done something wrong, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of dog do you have? I have a mutt. I wonder if all species of dogs are as adept at interpreting human commands?
-Posted by Johanna Brophy
This is a very interesting idea, to turn bioacoustic analysis into something that that can be easily manipulated and understood by the general public. I do wonder, however, if this device has a feature where you are able to distinguish exactly what type of dog the device is analyzing. For instance, larger dogs would produce a different range of frequencies than a smaller dog would. I wonder if this device could also be programmed for other house hold pets, such as cats. As both a dog and cat owner, i find it is much easier to interpret emotions in dogs than in cats, as felines don't seem to express themselves as much as a dog in my opinion. Although we are far off from knowing for sure what the behaviors of animals actually mean, inventions like this show that we are getting closer by the days!
ReplyDeletePosted by Sara Corey
Wow this is a really cool article. I have three dogs of my own right now and I know that its easy to tell basic emotions such as happy, angry, and sad. But I do think its really cool that there is a device that can interpret the amplitudes and frequencies of the bark to tell you the dog's emotions. I wonder if there is a device in which we could better communicate to the dog. A device that could be used to better train the dog to tell it right from wrong.
ReplyDeletePosted by Nick Gast
It's incredible how this machine can detect the emotions of the dogs. However, I feel like I already know my dogs emotions even without the machine. Sometimes my dog, a burnese mountain dog, becomes really quiet and hides in a room she usually doesn't go to. I then look around the house and see that she peed on the floor! I can usually already tell by observing her for a second what her emotions are.
ReplyDeletePosted by Ryan Brooks
This reminds me of that dog collar in the disney movie Up that translates what the dog is thinking into words. Personally, I think it is a silly invention, but they may be leading to something if an invention will be made that actually provides words. I am not sure if that is possible though seeing as how animals would not be thinking in English, or any other human language for that matter. I agree that most signals from our pets (even sometimes non domesticated animals) are easy to read. It is simple to tell when an animal is pissed off versus a calm/happy animal.
ReplyDeletePosted by Caitlin Descovich O'Hare
As an owner of a dog, I agree with you that we can mostly tell what a dog's "feeling" based on his vocals and physical body movements. Still, it is a neat device and it does mean a step forward in animal communication. Though, if it mainly goes off of vocal sounds, it wouldn't work too well on my dog (he rarely barks or makes any sounds other than pig noises).
ReplyDeletePosted by Austin Gray
Thanks for the comments! I wish my dog would show his "feelings" in a less acoustic way... Perhaps in the future there will be devices that also detect an animal's physiology and form to detect their "feelings" more in depth than BowLingual. Dog's signals may be easy to read because we are around them every day, but imagine trying to read the signals of a giraffe or a crocodile!
ReplyDeletePosted by Michael Shi
I believe this device would be a waste of money. Dogs are highly understood without this device through body language and facial expressions, like we learned a little about in class. If we were to have this device, I believe it will ruin the friendly pet image of a dog.
ReplyDeletePosted by Ryan Dulmaine
I LOVE dogs!! I have a red-nose pit and I got her as a pup. She is adorable! I think this invention in ingenious but as it has been said, pet owners have adapted a way to decipher the "messages" conveyed in our pets' vocalizations and expressions. However, I would like to use this device to "translate" what Jasmin says to me. Most likely she curses at me for not giving her treats in excess -_- But then again, maybe I wouldn't want to know some of her thoughts now that I think of it. Interesting post though! Good looking dog by the way!
ReplyDeleteComment by Jose Mijangos