Your taste in music might feel completely personal — but it could be influenced by something deeper than you think.
A new study suggests that humans and animals often prefer the same mating calls, hinting that our sense of sound may be more biologically rooted than previously believed.
Humans and animals share sound preferences
The natural world is full of noise — chirps, growls, whistles and calls — many of which seem meaningless to us. But researchers found that humans may be more tuned in than expected.
In the study, more than 4,000 participants listened to pairs of mating calls from 16 different species, including mammals, birds, frogs and insects. They were asked a simple question: which sound do you like more?
Surprisingly, people consistently chose the same calls that animals themselves preferred in earlier studies.
“I was pretty shocked,” said lead author Logan James. “We thought it might work, but we didn’t know if it actually would.”
A consistent pattern across species
The trend held across a wide range of animals. Whether it was frogs, birds, insects or mammals, humans tended to favor the same calls that the animals found most attractive — more often than would happen by chance.
Even more interesting, people were more likely to agree with animals when the animals showed a strong preference for a particular sound.
Expertise didn’t seem to matter either. Musicians or people familiar with animal sounds weren’t better at choosing the “right” calls than anyone else.
What makes a sound appealing?
Some calls stood out more than others. Sounds with extra features — like added chirps, clicks or variations — were generally more appealing to both humans and animals.
However, not all species matched perfectly. For example, humans strongly agreed with the preferences of song sparrows and certain crickets, but not as much with the calls of geladas, a type of monkey.
Why does this happen?
Scientists still don’t fully understand why humans and animals share these preferences.
Animals may favor certain calls because they signal strength, size or fitness — but humans aren’t making those same judgments consciously.
One possible explanation is that both humans and animals process sound in similar ways.
“We all have to interpret vibrations in the air,” James explained. “That shared process might be why we respond similarly.”
A shared sense of beauty?
The findings also raise a bigger question: how humans perceive beauty in nature.
From birdsong to colors and scents, many natural signals evolved to attract other animals — not us. Yet we still find them appealing.
“It’s fascinating,” James said, “that because we share basic sensory systems with other animals, we might be able to appreciate that beauty too.”