Turns Out, Cats Like When You Use A 'Baby Voice'

Are you one of those people who uses a high-pitched baby voice to get your cat’s attention? Good news! They actually like that.

A study published in 2022 in the Animal Cognition found that cats can distinguish their owners’ voices from those of strangers, and that they respond positively to what we colloquially call baby talk, but only when it comes from their owner.

In the study, the researchers worked with 16 cats aged between 8 months and 2 years old. The scientists had the cats’ owners record phrases like “Do you want a treat?” in high-pitched “pet-directed speech” and in a tone they’d use with other adults. They also had 16 strangers record the same phrases using the same two styles of speaking.

The recordings were played for the cats in their own homes with their owner present but not interacting with them, according to New Scientist. The researchers then graded the intensity of the cats’ reactions ― things like dilated pupils, turning their ears or moving toward the voice ― on a scale from zero to 20.

They discovered cats were largely disinterested in the stranger’s voice, even when said stranger used a singsong-y baby talk voice. But when the cats’ owners employed a baby voice, 10 of the 16 cats perked up and paid attention.

“For a long time it has been thought that cats are very independent creatures, only interested in [humans for] eating and shelter, but the fact that they react specifically to their owner, and not just anybody addressing them, supports the idea that they are attached,” the lead researcher Charlotte de Mouzon told The Guardian.

“It brings further evidence to encourage humans to consider cats as sensitive and communicative individuals,” she said.

Mikel Delgado, a cat behavioral consultant at