hard of hearing dog

Question
our 8 yr old dog recently became hard of hearing and this was confirmed by Vet. Today he seemed to hear us and hear things much better.  Have you heard of this?

Answer

Hi Alice,

You didn't say what tests your vet did to confirm your dog's hearing loss. The only way to know for sure if your dog is totally or partially deaf is by shaving your vet do a Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (BAER) test on your dog. This test uses a computer to record the electrical activity of the brain in response to sound.

It's possible your dog had some kind of a blockage (such as ear wax build-up) which has cleared itself, allowing your dog to hear better. It's also possible that your dog hasn't had an improvement in his hearing, and is reacting to sound vibrations he's feeling.

There is a simple test that you can perform to check your dog's hearing. First of all, seclude your dog in a private room making sure that there are no types of distractions, such as:  lights, sounds, and vibrations. Next, make sure that your dog is resting, but not asleep. Position yourself 5 to 6 feet behind your dog so he can't see you and then clap your hands loudly.

Pay attention to both the dog's ears and his head when clapping the hands as any dog that is not having any hearing problems should react to the noise. Observe if the ears perk up immediately following the sound or if they actually turn around to notice you. A hearing impairment is normally evident if the animal is slow to respond, or if no response at all. Repeat the test by standing a foot or two closer to your dog. Repeat this test two or three times, decreasing the volume of the sound each time. This will give you an idea as to the actual hearing range of your dog and help you determine if your dog has a normal hearing level or not. Keep in mind that following a loud noise with a soft noise will make it even more difficult for the animal to hear you if they are suffering from any hearing loss at all. Therefore, you don't want to conduct these "clapping" tests with rapidity. Take a little bit of time in between the tests.

Best of luck,

Patti