Hearing Service Dogs

What are Hearing service dogs used for? Hearing service dogs are used for people with hearing impairments that may be deaf or hearing impaired. Service Dogs for Hearing can alert their handlers to sounds around the home and in public.

Service Dogs for Hearing are especially sensitive to noises, and a deaf partner can learn a lot about his or her environment just by watching the dog’s visual cues. A dog may notice when someone approaches from behind and tries to get the attention of his or her handler. A Service Dog for Hearing, along with his or her “Service Dogs for Hearing ” vest, is often the first indicator to the public that the individual may need to be spoken to face-to-face or in another manner.

Service Dogs for Hearing communicate with their deaf partners by making physical contact with them and then leading them to the sound’s location. Small dogs will jump up on a person’s leg or lap to alert their partner, while large dogs will seek out a person’s hand with their nose to make contact. Hearing Dog’s ability to grow in their job is remarkable.

Let us look at what tasks they can perform for their handler and/or individual with Hearing impairment. Here are a few of the common tasks that a service dog is trained for specifically but not limited to for hearing impairment:

Hearing service dogs assist by alerting to noises such as:

• Alarms

• Doorbells

• Crying babies if needed.

• A knock on the door

• Smoke detector alarm

• Alarm clock ringing

• Tea kettle whistling

• Telephone or cell phone ringing

• Keys dropping

• Traffic approaching

• The name of the dog’s handler to alert the person when he or she is being spoken to.

• General sound awareness

• Microwave dings

• Garbage disposal sounds

These are just some of the common tasks that a Hearing service dog can provide to a child or an adult in any given setting to help give support to the individual and/or the handler of the service dog.

In closing: It is utterly amazing to watch first-hand what these dogs can do for their humans, giving back the will to thrive daily, self-confidence, and independence. Please feel free to leave your comments, advice for others or questions that you may have below over the next few days with all this learning surely someone has a comment or question! Do not be afraid to ask because even if we do not have the answers, I bet together we can get those answers!