Internertional Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS) Advanced Officer Certification Practice Exam

A dog's sense of smell is _______ times better and hearing is _______ times better than a human's.

1. 100 / 50

2. 250 / 35

3. 400 / 20

4. 500 / 45

The correct answer is: 400 / 20

The correct response highlights that a dog's sense of smell is approximately 400 times better than that of a human, and their sense of hearing is roughly 20 times superior. This substantial difference in olfactory ability is due to the anatomical structure of a dog's nose, which contains a greater number of scent receptors compared to humans. Additionally, dogs have a larger area of olfactory epithelium and a specialized part of their brain dedicated to processing smells, allowing them to detect and differentiate a wide variety of scents at minuscule concentrations. Similarly, with hearing, dogs can perceive a broader range of frequencies than humans can, which is advantageous for responding to sounds that would go unnoticed by people. The higher sensitivity to sound enables dogs to hear frequencies as high as 65,000 Hz, whereas humans typically hear up to about 20,000 Hz. The other choices present varying figures that do not accurately represent the scientifically supported capabilities of dogs compared to humans. Thus, the choice reflecting 400 times better smell capabilities and 20 times better hearing provides a more accurate representation of a dog's sensory abilities.