Sometimes, what my seven-year-old tabby cat Ophelia wants is obvious. At dinner, Yue Delgo clearly indicated in front of her empty food bowl that she was at imminent risk of hunger. However, at other times, her meowing is a complete mystery.
This is where computer scientists Sergei Dreizin and Mark Boyes from Akvelon, a software engineering firm headquartered in Bellevue, Washington State, say they can offer help. This pair of partners is the brain behind the MeowTalk app, which is designed to “provide the best tools for cat owners” to explain the needs of their pets.
This free application records the meowing sounds of felines and translates them into short phrases such as “I’m annoying” and “Hey me!” Users can rate the accuracy of MeowTalk’s translation to further improve the computer model. The application was launched in November 2020 and has been downloaded more than 20 million times. Dreizin estimates that the program has analyzed over one billion cats so far.
This application is part of an expanding suite of technologies designed to help us communicate with our furry friends. The other one is FluentPet, which can train your pet to press buttons to convey needs; For example, cats can learn to press a button with the word “play” written on it. Charlotte de Mouzon, a cat behaviorist and communication expert, doesn’t believe in the accuracy of these products, but strengthening the relationship with cats has always been a sensible goal.
Domestic cats use all five senses to communicate with other felines. The odors in urine and skin oil spread a cat’s health condition, gender and acceptance of mating. Body language conveys emotions: Fluffy fur and an arched back indicate fear, while the ears in front and a swishing tail mean satisfaction and alertness. On the other hand, the sound communication among cats is mainly limited to hissing and roaring to establish territory and resolve disputes. It is worth noting that adult cats do not meow to each other – this is a reserved sound for humans.
For instance, in a study in 2023, de Mouzon and his colleagues found that many owners did not know when their cats were unhappy. Make purring sounds: Although cats often purr when they feel good, they also purr when they are uncomfortable or in pain.
When Boyes and Dreizin were looking for data to inform their new application, they discovered a 2019 study which showed that cats’ meows contain certain common features.
Then, the researchers constructed a computer program to analyze the meowing recordings of 21 adult cats in three situations: waiting for food, being brushed, and being alone in an unfamiliar environment. Each situation will lead to specific types of meows that can be classified by computer analysis. The founders of MeowTalk used these tens of thousands of meows recordings to develop their computer model, which was driven by artificial intelligence.
It worked: A 2021 study found that MeowTalk could classify the “phrases” of nine feline species with 90% accuracy.
Even so, both Dreizin and Boyes emphasized that AI programs are not perfect – and Vonk and de Mouzon agreed with this.
In fact, when people can see and hear cats, they are better at explaining their cats. Ultimately, there will always be times when your cat’s meowing is meaningless – and that’s okay. “Communication is a common learning process between every cat and their human families,” said de Mouzon.
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