In case your canine is afraid of noises, please take that significantly. Sound reactivity may be debilitating, and the scientific, medical situation of sound phobia may be devastating. Neither is usually “solved” by buying a product. Proof helps the usage of counterconditioning, leisure coaching, and behavioral drugs (Riemer, 2020).
The Pet Shell Pet Home
I don’t personal a Pet Shell. I’m reviewing the claims of their advertising and marketing supplies in comparison with the acoustic report they printed.
A brand new product for canines and cats, the “Pet Shell,” has hit the market. It’s a Kickstarter undertaking and promoted as a noise-reducing pet home that “reduces sounds by greater than 50%,” which is a problematic assertion. The advertising and marketing supplies additional indicate that the inside of the Pet Shell is “silent,” with a number of statements equivalent to, “The unbeatable mixture of darkness and silence (emphasis theirs) creates a chilled area in your pet, much like a den.” The silence declare can also be problematic, and unfaithful per their very own check outcomes.
The noises they characteristic in a promotional video are a thunderclap, a siren, a jackhammer, a vacuum, site visitors, a beeping alarm clock, and fireworks. Equally, the sounds listed on the “Understanding Canine’ Sensitivity” part of their Kickstarter web site are thunderstorms, fireworks and gunshots, loud autos, sirens and alarms, development and industrial noises, and family noises. Notice what number of of those embody low-frequency sounds.
This product is being aggressively marketed as an answer for canines who concern thunder and fireworks. Nonetheless, Pet Shell’s personal printed acoustical testing report, impeccably carried out on the Slovenian Nationwide Constructing and Civil Engineering Institute, reveals that the low frequencies of thunder and fireworks are the place the Pet Shell is least efficient at stopping the transmission of sound.
That is in step with the findings of fundamental physics and acoustics.
The Acoustic Testing and Report
The acoustic testing of the Pet shell was carried out by a physicist with glorious credentials. The report is exemplary, with strategies defined nicely and with adequate element and transparency that somebody with the suitable gear might replicate the testing. I’m glad that Pet Shell engaged an knowledgeable who is aware of testing procedures and the relevant requirements to do that work.
The outcomes are nicely supported within the report itself, and they’re in step with common information about sound coming into enclosures. I’ll assume the accuracy of the report findings by this weblog publish.
The Problematic Advertising and marketing Claims
The advertising and marketing supplies comprise many statements and claims which can be refuted by Pet Shell’s personal check outcomes. Listed below are the highlights.
Problematic Declare: The Pet Shell reduces sounds by greater than 50%. The common sound discount throughout the frequency bands over a variety of 1–20,000 Hz was discovered to be 13 decibels. Since a 10-decibel discount correlates with a lower of the perceived sound by half (for people), this “greater than 50%” discount may be defended. Nonetheless, that common offers an incomplete image of what’s taking place contained in the Pet Shell. The effectiveness of sound discount by passive means (limitations, absorption) depends upon frequency. It’s a lot simpler to stop the transmission of high-frequency sound. Should you test the breakdown by frequency on the sound testing report, you see that the low frequencies from 100 to 250 Hz present a lot much less discount within the Pet Shell. The attenuation is 2.6 dB at 100 Hz, 4.2 dB at 125 Hz, 6.6 dB at 160 Hz, 5.3 dB at 200 Hz, and three.4 dB at 250 Hz. These frequencies correlate with the frequencies of thunder and enormous fireworks, and they’re being diminished a lot lower than the common.
Please view the report back to see this dramatic decline in effectiveness at low frequencies depicted graphically on web page 4.
This poor efficiency is in no way shocking; it’s widespread to all barrier-based options. You possibly can see an analogous lowered effectiveness within the sound spectrum report for Rex Specs Ear Professional, ear safety for canines. Passive sound limitations will not be efficient at stopping the transmission of low frequencies; the waves are too huge.
The Pet Shell can declare a 13-decibel discount total as a result of the sound attenuation is way more efficient at greater frequencies. However assume what which means. An animal within the inside of the Pet Shell is in a soundscape with a predominance of low frequencies.
Extraordinarily Problematic Declare: “Silence.” The repeated references to silence can’t be defended. On web page 4 of the report, they checklist the precise sound discount of the Pet Shell within the presence of the noise supply. The check noise clocks in at 94.2 dB(A) outdoors the Pet Shell and 81.0 dB(A) contained in the Pet Shell. (See technical addendum for notes about dB(A).) Some examples of noises in that decibel vary are a gas-powered lawnmower, a busy freeway at 50 ft, a loud overhead pager (intercom), an electrical garden edger, and the noise inside an airplane. Eighty-five dB is the boundary in U.S. workplaces the place publicity over time should be monitored and managed. Referring to the noise discount contained in the Pet Shell as reaching “silence” is preposterous.
Problematic Declare: “…minimizing intense sounds – particularly high-pitched ones that set off stress…” This assertion accurately identifies that the Pet Shell is more practical at reducing higher-frequency sounds than lower-frequency sounds, as is true of any passive sound barrier. However why are they specializing in “high-pitched sounds that set off stress” when a lot of the sounds they checklist on their websites and embody of their promotional video are low frequency? Fireworks and thunder are featured time and again. Of the sounds I listed from their supplies above, solely the siren, the alarm clock, and a few family noises stand out as greater frequency. And whereas there are many canines who concern high-frequency sounds (I had one), a current examine confirmed that thunder was the commonest concern (Grigg et al., 2021, p. 4).
Problematic Declare: The same old buzzwords for such merchandise like “calming, secure, silent, safe,” and implications of leisure and reducing nervousness. I’m certain some animals benefit from the privateness, the flexibility to cover in a comfy place, and the reasonable sound discount at greater frequencies. However canines contained in the Pet Shell will nonetheless hear the fireworks and thunderstorms completely nicely.
Photographs Depicting Fireworks and Thunder Sounds by Frequency
The next photographs present that the weakest efficiency of the Pet Shell (per their report) correlates with the loudest frequencies of fireworks and thunder.
I analyzed sound recordings of fireworks and thunder within the software program Audacity, and the photographs under present the sound spectrum, in different phrases, how loud the sound is at completely different frequencies. Within the photographs, the horizontal (x) axis is frequency, and the vertical (y) axis is decibels. The upper one thing is on the y axis, the louder it’s. I marked with a black rectangle the frequency space the place the Pet Shell is least efficient per the numbers of their report: the vary from100 to 250 Hz. It correlates with the loudest frequencies of each the fireworks and thunder.
The purple line in every picture reveals the height, the realm of most amplitude (roughly, quantity). In each instances, it’s inside the space the place the Pet Shell performs the worst.
See my technical addendum on the backside in case you are curious why the decibels on the y axis are adverse.
I bought the pattern sounds of fireworks and thunderclaps from Pond5.com. You possibly can hearken to lower-quality previews (flip down your quantity first!) of the sounds I used right here (fireworks) and right here (thunder). I selected recordings by ear that had loads of low frequencies. Listed below are sources for details about the standard low frequencies of fireworks (Tanaka et al., 2016) and thunder (Holmes et al., 1971).
Can a Little Discount Assist My Canine?
Are you pondering, “Nicely, even a tiny little bit of discount within the sound of thunder might be price it”? In that case, ask your self whether or not your canine reacts solely to the loudest thunderclaps. Once they hear thunder that doesn’t shake the home, are they high quality? In that case, perhaps a little bit discount might assist (though they’ll nonetheless really feel the home shake contained in the Pet Shell). Or have they generalized to fearing most or all thunder noise? In that case, a small discount in decibels is immaterial. Canine typically get sensitized to sounds that scare them. When this occurs, the sound can scare them at decrease intensities than it did initially. In these instances, a small discount within the sound depth wouldn’t make a distinction.
Conclusion
The Pet Shell is pricey and doesn’t treatment sound concern. It doesn’t block low-frequency sound. It’s not silent inside. Offering a hiding place is a kindness, however don’t we wish greater than that for our canines—to deal with the concern itself?
The hurt of the Pet Shell comes from the advertising and marketing claims, together with that it will possibly defend canines considerably from thunder and fireworks. Their very own report says that it will possibly’t. Folks might buy this product as an alternative of pursuing evidence-based approaches to assist their pet’s sound sensitivity.
I had an alternate with a consultant of Pet Shell on social media after I made a quick critique. They had been well mannered and open to recommendations. I requested them to place a discover on their web site about how severe the concern of sounds may be in canines, and to encourage folks to hunt skilled assist for his or her canines for this downside.
References
Grigg, E. Okay., Chou, J., Parker, E., Gatesy-Davis, A., Clarkson, S. T., & Hart, L. A. (2021). Stress-related behaviors in companion canines uncovered to widespread family noises, and homeowners’ interpretations of their canines’ behaviors. Frontiers in veterinary science, 8, 760845.
Holmes, C. R., Brook, M., Krehbiel, P., & McCrory, R. (1971). On the facility spectrum and mechanism of thunder. Journal of Geophysical Analysis, 76(9), 2106-2115.
Riemer, S. (2020). Effectiveness of remedies for firework fears in canines. Journal of Veterinary Habits, 37, 61-70.
Tanaka, T., Inaba, R., & Aoyama, A. (2016). Noise and low-frequency sound ranges as a consequence of aerial fireworks and prediction of the occupational publicity of pyrotechnicians to noise. Journal of occupational well being, 58(6), 593-601.
Copyright 2025 Eileen Anderson
Images
Photograph of canine with chin on the ground courtesy of consumer PicsbyFran on Pixabay. I cropped it. All different photographs copyright Eileen Anderson 2025.
Technical Addendum: These Destructive Decibels and dB(A)
The decibels are adverse in my photographs as a result of they’re being measured inside a pc and never the true world. Decibels want a reference level, and there are many completely different ones used. The utmost decibels that the pc can document (so-called “full-scale”) is about at a reference level of zero. So the nearer the adverse quantity is to zero, and the upper it’s bodily on the picture, the louder the sound is at that frequency.
The designation dB(A) within the Pet Shell report refers to a decibel scale that’s weighted, bearing in mind the traits of human listening to. This will introduce error, but it surely’s unavoidable at the moment. We don’t have a scale weighted for canines (which is acknowledged within the report).
