To help your dog's hearing, first see a vet to treat reversible causes like wax buildup, infections, debris, or tumors, which can restore hearing; if deafness is permanent (age-related, congenital), focus on adapting with visual cues (hand signals, flashing lights, vibrations) and touch, as hearing aids are experimental but developing, according to sources like CareCredit.
Treatment of deafness in dogs depends on the cause. With few exceptions, issues with the conduction of sound—such as obstruction of the ear canal, minor damage to the eardrum, or infection of the middle ear canal—are treatable. A return to hearing can be expected with appropriate care.
Short answer: yes -- many older dogs become aware of hearing loss, but their understanding and behavioral response vary with temperament, degree and speed of decline, and prior experience with hearing.
Age-related hearing loss in senior dogs typically occurs around 13 years of age. They usually start out no longer being able to hear higher frequency sounds, which means they may still seem to hear or react to sounds with a lower pitch.
What are the signs of deafness in dogs?
Most often, deafness happens gradually, but sometimes it can occur suddenly because of an injury from a loud noise or a toxic medication. Some of the more common causes of hearing loss in dogs are: Aging (presbycusis) Ear infections.
First, test to see if your dog responds to a variety of sounds, such as whistling, clapping, knocking on the door, calling his name, etc. while he is not facing you. An absence or lack of response to any of these sound stimuli can indicate that your pet might be losing his sense of hearing.
Symptoms
Common signs of ear infections in dogs include:
Startling easily: Deafness can cause dogs to startle more easily. Since they don't hear people approaching, they can feel alarmed when they're touched unexpectedly. Sleep changes: Deaf dogs might sleep more soundly since they don't have auditory cues to wake them.
Never stop talking to your deaf dog, ever. Even if you aren't giving cues and you're just sitting around watching tv, if they're close enough they can feel vibrations of you speaking.
Sudden hearing loss can be an indication of an underlying medical condition, such as Meniere's disease (a disruption of the fluid balance in the inner ear), autoimmune inner ear disease (when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the tissues of your inner ear), or a tumor of the hearing nerve (acoustic neuroma).
Dogs who become deaf, especially later in life, typically do not experience any anxiety over their loss of hearing and seem to have very little trouble adapting to their condition. However, some modifications will need to be made to accommodate the deaf dog's lifestyle. Monitor your dog's activity to avoid injury.
BAER Test: A Method Of Measuring Hearing Loss in Dogs. To test hearing in animals, owners and veterinarians can test a patient's response to high-pitched noises, such as whistling, or loud noises, such as clapping hands or banging an object. Though simple, this is the most practical way to know if an animal can hear.
Although hearing aids and cochlear implants can ameliorate the symptoms somewhat, there are no known treatments to restore hearing, because auditory hair cells in mammals, unlike those in birds or fish, do not regenerate once lost.
Remember the “4 P's” of Hearing Loss: it is Painless, Progressive, Permanent—but most importantly, Preventable.
How can I treat my hearing loss?
Stage 3: Moderately severe hearing loss
When the quietest sounds you can hear are between 50 and 64 dB, the diagnosis is stage 3, or moderately severe hearing loss. Once you've reached this stage of hearing loss, it's difficult to hear most sounds without the assistance of hearing aids.
Permanent causes of acquired deafness include trauma to the hard portion of the temporal bone that surrounds the inner ear, loud noises (for example, gunfire), conditions in which there is a loss or destruction of myelin (the fatty material that surrounds some nerve cells), drugs toxic to the ear (for example, ...
Deaf dogs can get startled easily.
Tap your foot to get their attention and use their other senses to your advantage. There is a myth that deaf dogs may be more aggressive as they can be scared more easily, but this isn't true.
The "heartbreak breed" refers primarily to the Great Dane, nicknamed this due to their affectionate nature combined with a relatively short lifespan (around 7-10 years) and susceptibility to serious heart conditions like dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), making losing them particularly difficult for their devoted owners. Other giant breeds like Irish Wolfhounds, Bernese Mountain Dogs, and Saint Bernards also face significant health challenges, including cancer and heart disease, often earning them similar sentiments from owners.
If you suspect your pet may have lost their hearing, see a vet ASAP. A veterinarian can examine your dog's ear canal for excess wax, infections, injury, polyps or tumors, foreign objects, and other obstructions. Generally, the sooner you seek treatment, the better the dog's odds that hearing can be restored.
These noises often combine factors like loudness, unpredictability, or high frequencies that are uncomfortable for dogs' sensitive ears.
Hearing loss can be caused by exposure to heavy metals, such as mercury or lead, or may occur after your pet takes certain medications, including chemotherapy drugs, diuretics or antibiotics.