Hearing or Signal dogs serve as the ears of a person who is deaf or hearing impaired.

They alert their partners to specific sounds such as alarm clocks, telephone ringing, smoke alarms and doorbells, kitchen timer or a baby cry. Hearing dogs uses a paw touch or nose bump to get to their handler’s attention, and then take the handler to the source of the sound, or in the case of a fire alarm, will take their partner outside.

The dogs will also respond to signals such as a person calling the name of the handler or, when outside of the home, sirens and other dangerous sounds.

Training of a hearing dog takes from three months to seven months.