A recent study published in Scientific Reports raises questions about the effectiveness of the Augmentative Interspecies Communication (AIC) buttons used to communicate with dogs. While these devices have gained popularity on social media and sparked a global citizen science movement, researchers from the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, found that the quality of sound significantly impacts a dog’s ability to understand and respond to pre-recorded words.
The study suggests that while dogs can recognize recorded speech to a certain extent, their response diminishes as the sound quality deteriorates. This was particularly evident when AIC buttons—devices known for poor sound fidelity—were used. The research compared dogs’ responses to verbal cues through AIC buttons, smartphone loudspeakers, and direct human speech. Seventeen dogs were tested with commands such as “lie down,” “spin,” and “raise a paw.” The dogs responded nearly perfectly to direct human speech, with a success rate of almost 100%. Their success dropped to around 70% when the words were played through a loudspeaker, but fell dramatically to just 30% with AIC button playback.
The study also examined GWL dogs, renowned for their ability to learn a wide range of toy names. When tested with AIC buttons and loudspeakers, the dogs showed a similar pattern of behavior. While loudspeakers retained most of the speech’s frequency range, the AIC buttons lost crucial frequencies, limiting the dogs’ ability to understand the words, according to co-author Dr. Tamás Farago.
In a follow-up test, the GWL dogs were taught new toy names through loudspeakers instead of direct human speech. After two weeks of training, they performed at a 70% success rate when asked to fetch specific toys. Interestingly, their performance improved slightly when the toy names were spoken directly by their owners, demonstrating that dogs can transfer what they learned from recorded words to live speech. This suggests that while GWL dogs can adapt to less-than-ideal conditions, their performance is enhanced by natural, direct human interaction.
Lead author Fumi Higaki commented, “I was surprised to see how much the dogs struggled with the recorded words on the AIC buttons. I had assumed they would respond to the recordings as easily as to spoken words, but the results were clear.” Project leader Dr. Claudia Fugazza emphasized that the study’s findings could inform future research on canine communication and urged dog owners to focus on natural, face-to-face interactions rather than relying on technology.
These findings challenge the idea that AIC buttons offer an effective communication tool for dogs, suggesting that higher-quality sound and more direct interaction are essential for improving canine responses to human speech.