  Yet dogs never seem to get sore throats, or laryngitis. How come? Actually, dogs that bark a lot will get a hoarse throat. After hours of continuous barking, a dog's voice will change; he won't be able to bark as much, or as loudly. But because dog barking is such a common sound, we don't tend to notice it as much, especially if the dog is outside, and the barking gets softer. When the dog finally stops barking, we are more likely to be relieved, than to investigate his 'sore throat'. As a result, dogs' sore throats will often go unnoticed. There's more to it than that, however. Dogs can bark for a long time without their voices suffering much ... far longer than we could yell or talk in a loud voice. If we yelled as much as some dogs bark, we would definitely get a sore throat very quickly. Why is this? Our vocal cords are thin bands of flesh in our throats, that we can vibrate at many different frequencies, to produce a wide range of sounds necessary for language. They are very sensitive to small changes in their stretch, so they can be damaged easily, especially after yelling for a while. A dog's vocal cords, however, aren't designed for making words, just sounds. Because a dog's communication methods are much simpler, and there aren't very many different sounds a dog can make, a dog's vocal cords are much thicker and less sensitive. As a result, they are not easily damaged by continuous vibration. So a dog can bark a long time before getting worn-out vocal cords! |