Audiological Health
FOR Horses
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Hearing in Horses
Hearing is crucial for horses due to their status as prey animals. Horses can hear the range of 55 Hz to 33,500 Hz. Their acute auditory sense has a significant role in their survival and overall well-being.
Overall hearing is vital for horses’ safety, communication, training, environmental awareness, and general well-being. It enhances their ability to interact with their environment, respond to humans, and maintain social activities within their herds.
Importance of Hearing in Horses
Detection of predators
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Early warning system
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Horses’ sharp hearing detect predators from distance which help them to react quickly to potential treats, increasing their chances of survival.
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Directional hearing
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Horses can pinpoint direction of the sounds, helping them to identify where treat is coming from and enable them to take appropriate action.
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Communication
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Social interactions
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Horses use vocalizations such as whinnies, neighs, and snorts to communicate with each other. Hearing is necessary for maintaining social bonds and coordinating group movement.
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Maternal binding
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Foals and mares communicate by vocalizations and sounds. A foal’s ability to hear its mother is critical for bonding and staying safe.
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Training and handling
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Responds to commands
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Horses were trained for riding, racing, or work rely on hearing for responding to vocal commands and cues from handlers and riders.
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Safety in handling
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Horses with good hearing react to handler instructions, enhancing safety for the horse and the handler.
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Environmental Awareness
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Navigating the environment
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Horses use their hearing for awareness of their surroundings and environment navigation.
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Alertness to changes
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Horses can detect environmental changes through sounds such as vehicle approach, machinery or other disturbance.
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Stress and anxiety reduction
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Comfort and reassurance
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The presence of familiar sounds such as caretaker’s voice or other horses can provide comfort and reduce stress especially in unfamiliar or stressful situations.
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Detection of harmonic sounds
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Horses are sensitive to harmonic sounds like music. These sounds can have calming effects on horses.
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Health monitoring
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Early detection of health issues
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Changes in horse’s respond to sound can indicate health problems, ear infections, injuries, or neurological issues.
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Monitoring herd health
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By listening to herd vocalizations and movements, the overall health and well-being of horses can be monitored.
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Hearing Impairment in Horses
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Deafness and hearing loss are relatively rare symptoms which are partial or complete inability to perceive auditory signals and respond to auditory cues.
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Hearing loss and deafness can happen due to genetic predisposition, malformations at birth, injuries, infections, brain disease, poisoning, and old age.
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The most common ear condition in horses are the ones that cause skin problems that affect the Pinna such as Fly bites, Aural Plaque, Sarcoid (skin tumor), Ticks, mites, and infection.
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Hearing helps horses to be fine-tuned to their surroundings, helps them make sense of their environment, communicate within herds, and interact with handlers.
Hearing Impairment Affects
Deaf Horses can adjust very well.
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They can work, compete, trail ride, and do anything that a hearing horse can do.
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Deaf horse can be completely functional and work like hearing horses and will respond to training. The key is awareness of the problem.
Some horses develop different reaction to hearing loss such as:
Sudden behavior change
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A typical behaviors are cribbing, wind-sucking, weaving, stall walking, and head shaking.
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Highly reactive and spooky
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Develop anxiety
Change in personality
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Aggression
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Fear and Phobias (startle)
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Abnormal eating habits
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Performance problems
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Undesirable stall behaviors
Horses with single side deafness have
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Reaction to loud and sudden sound
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Difficulty responding to verbal cues and normal volume sounds
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Difficulty for sound directionality
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