How To Diagnose Deafness In Dogs?

Your dog doesn’t care when you call? Not obeying your orders lately? Possibly he has problems listening to you, because deafness is a problem that also affects our animals. It is important to be aware of the symptoms that allow diagnosing deafness in dogs.

This pathology can be congenital, or it can be caused by infections or trauma. Age is also an important factor. As our animal ages, it can lose its sense of hearing.

Behaviors we can observe to diagnose deafness in dogs

Most of the time, hearing problems in dogs can go unnoticed. Unless the lack of hearing is absolute, it will be difficult for us to perceive the situation. Something we can do at home to find out if our dog has hearing problems is a test of attention. 

Test to get the pet’s attention

Without the dog looking, we can make a noise. But it has to be a sound he can only perceive with his ears. Nothing that causes air movement or vibrations. Flipping the keys or turning up the radio or TV volume can do. If the dog does not react, we must be alert.

We can also wait for him to be asleep and start calling him in a low voice, to gradually turn up the volume. If he has any degree of hearing loss, he will respond at a certain volume level. If he doesn’t respond, we must suspect he may be deaf.

When the dog hears with only one ear, it may respond in a confused way, not knowing exactly the direction of the sound. In any case, when you have any suspicions regarding our animal’s hearing, it is necessary to go to the veterinarian.

Technique used to diagnose deafness in dogs

At home, we can prove suspicions that our dog is losing his  hearing. However, it is the veterinarian who will have the tools to diagnose deafness accurately.

For this, they usually use the BAER test or the test of potential hearing loss, which assesses the activity in the dog’s brain in response to a series of sounds.

The test consists of connecting electrodes to the head and base of the animal’s ears. Sound stimuli are applied in the form of clicks and the brain response is measured.

Methods such as tympanometry are also used, which assesses the functioning of the eardrum and middle ear. Likewise, the acoustic reflex test, which measures the ear’s response to loud sounds, can be applied.

The otoacoustic emissions test is a technique to diagnose deafness in dogs. It consists of stimulating the hair cells in the ear with sounds and evaluating the response.

With these methods, it is possible to prove the level of deafness in animals. If it is total, when the dog hears absolutely nothing; if it is one-sided, when it can listen with one ear; or if you have a certain level of hearing loss.

Symptoms of deafness in dogs

There are some signs that can be helpful in knowing if your dog has ear problems:

• Otherwise wake up with loud noises.
• When it does not respond to sounds to which it usually reacted: bell, keys that indicate the time of the tour, etc.

• If we call you by name and you don’t respond or don’t pay attention to the usual orders. These are signs that something is wrong with our animal’s ears.

deafness in puppies

In puppies, we can observe behaviors that could indicate deafness. A puppy that bites others hard may not be listening or may not be aware of hurting them. If the little one does not wake up, except with the movement of the mother or siblings, this can also indicate the possibility of deafness.

It must be made very clear that a dog with deafness, whether partial or total, is a completely normal animal. We shouldn’t worry about that, as your partner will be just as happy, playful, affectionate and loyal.

So, if we are going to adopt a puppy that has been diagnosed with deafness, its parenting will be no different from that of other puppies. He just won’t listen.

Lastly, you also don’t need to pay much attention to myths or rumors that we always hear about bad tempered or aggressive dogs simply because they are deaf.