CatMeows: A Publicly-Available Dataset of Cat Vocalizations Luca A. Ludovico 1(B ) , Stavros Ntalampiras 1 , Giorgio Presti 1 , Simona Cannas 2 , Monica Battini 3 , and Silvana Mattiello 3 1 Department of Computer Science, University of Milan, Milan, Italy {luca.ludovico,stavros.ntalampiras,giorgio.presti}@unimi.it 2 Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, Milan, Italy simona.cannas@unimi.it 3 Department of Agricultural and Environmental Science, University of Milan, Milan, Italy {monica.battini,silvana.mattiello}@unimi.it Abstract. This work presents a dataset of cat vocalizations focusing on the meows emitted in three different contexts: brushing, isolation in an unfamiliar environment, and waiting for food. The dataset contains vocalizations produced by 21 cats belonging to two breeds, namely Maine Coon and European Shorthair. Sounds have been recorded using low-cost devices easily available on the marketplace, and the data acquired are representative of real-world cases both in terms of audio quality and acoustic conditions. The dataset is open-access, released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence, and it can be retrieved from the Zenodo web repository. Keywords: Audio dataset · Audio signal processing · Bioacoustics · Cat vocalizations · Meows 1 Introduction Domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus ) produce different vocalizations, with closed mouth (e.g., purrs and trills), with the mouth held open (e.g., spitting or hiss- ing), and while the mouth is gradually closing or opening (i.e. meows) [2]. Meows are considered as the most relevant type of vocalizations used by domestic cats to communicate with humans [2], whereas undomesticated felids rarely meow to humans [5], despite being common as an intra-specific vocalization [3]. Conse- quently, the analysis of meows can be useful to investigate cat-human commu- nication. Concerning widespread companion animals, who are often perceived as social partners [11, 13], few studies have been carried out to understand the mechanisms of their vocal communication with humans. For example, Pongr´ acz analyzes the effects of domestication on the vocal communication of dogs [23], McComb et al. focus on cat purrs [15], and Owens et al. propose a visual classification of feral cat vocalizations [18]. c  Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 J. Lokoˇ c et al. (Eds.): MMM 2021, LNCS 12573, pp. 230–243, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67835-7_20