What is a hearing dog? Why have a hearing dog? Today Cathy, another recipient of an IHDI hearing dog, posted a wonderful comment that reinforces the "do not pet" request on all service dog vests (see "Day 33: No Petting, Please!" for her wonderful contribution) and helps answer these questions about why a person would have a "hearing dog" by sharing what her dog Walle has contributed to the quality of her life.
Hearing loss itself, for want of a better expression, is difficult to explain partly because it is so individual. This disparity makes "correcting" hearing loss difficult too. One thing that all of us share, however, is the frustration and fatigue that come from trying to get along in a world that expects us to hear with understanding before we have begun to consciously listen. I cannot do this. Yet I am reluctant to ask people to repeat themselves because of their annoyed reaction to the request. Sometimes I do. More often, I simply smile and nod as if I had understood when I have not. Of course, this is not very effective. Sometimes I even think I did understand what someone was saying and respond only to discover that I didn't really know after all. This can be embarrassing. The result of all this frustration and fatigue is that often being alone is the easiest solution. However, this is really no solution since being alone is lonely.
While Gracie cannot tell me what people have said, she can tell me through her actions that she has heard something unusual. She looks in the direction of the sound helping me to locate what she has heard, addressing another problem I have: locating sounds. She can communicate with me without talking to me. Her presence can tell people not to expect me to hear them. Her presence makes it all right for me to ask them to repeat themselves. "Just the facts, ma'am. Just the facts," as the detective on the television show Dragnet used to say. Of course, there are the sounds that she has been trained to respond too. The IHDI website acknowledges the dogs that have saved their partner's lives by responding to the sounds in a crisis like a fire. But it doesn't take something that dramatic for a hearing dog to demonstrate its value. Because she is always with me, I am never alone. Perhaps that is the greatest benefit of all!
Hearing loss itself, for want of a better expression, is difficult to explain partly because it is so individual. This disparity makes "correcting" hearing loss difficult too. One thing that all of us share, however, is the frustration and fatigue that come from trying to get along in a world that expects us to hear with understanding before we have begun to consciously listen. I cannot do this. Yet I am reluctant to ask people to repeat themselves because of their annoyed reaction to the request. Sometimes I do. More often, I simply smile and nod as if I had understood when I have not. Of course, this is not very effective. Sometimes I even think I did understand what someone was saying and respond only to discover that I didn't really know after all. This can be embarrassing. The result of all this frustration and fatigue is that often being alone is the easiest solution. However, this is really no solution since being alone is lonely.
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| Relaxing with her toy |
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