SYMPTOM
Not responding to their name
The dog or cat no longer turns, looks up, or comes when called by name, even at a volume or from a distance that reliably worked before, while still appearing to react normally to visual cues such as the owner walking into view or to strong smells like food being prepared.
Age-Related Hearing Decline
Presbycusis, the gradual, age-related loss of hearing, typically affects middle and high frequencies first and progresses slowly enough that owners often only notice once the loss is fairly advanced, because the animal compensates using other senses in the meantime. It usually develops in the later third of an animal's expected lifespan and worsens gradually rather than suddenly.
Ear Disease
Chronic or recurrent inflammation of the outer, middle, or inner ear can damage the structures responsible for transmitting sound, producing temporary or, in longstanding cases, permanent reduction in hearing. This is often accompanied by other signs such as head shaking, odour, or visible discomfort around the ear.
Cognitive Decline
Reduced responsiveness to name and other familiar cues is recognised as part of the learning and memory changes of cognitive dysfunction in both dogs and cats, reflecting altered attention and processing rather than a purely auditory change. It typically appears alongside other subtle behavioural shifts rather than in isolation.
Neurological Involvement
Less commonly, disease affecting the structures connecting the ear to the brain, or the brain itself, can reduce responsiveness to sound alongside other neurological signs. It is worth distinguishing from straightforward peripheral hearing loss when other signs are present.
Behavioural or Attentional Change
Anxiety, pain-related withdrawal, or simple distraction can all reduce an animal's apparent responsiveness to its name without any true change in hearing ability. This is more likely when responsiveness varies by context rather than being consistently absent.
Congenital or Hereditary Deafness
Some puppies and kittens are born with reduced or absent hearing in one or both ears, a pattern recognised more frequently in certain coat-colour and breed associations, such as predominantly white cats with blue eyes or breeds including Dalmatians. This differs from the gradual patterns above in that unresponsiveness to name and other sounds is typically present from very early in life rather than developing later.
Why timing matters
Early observation
Early hearing loss is often intermittent and context-dependent, missing cues called from another room, in a noisy environment, or at a distance, while still responding reliably up close. This stage is easy to miss because the animal appears to compensate well.
Later presentation
A later stage typically shows no response even to loud sounds or close-range calling, and the change often generalises to other previously reliable cues such as the sound of a food bag or door.
A gradual decline over months is typical of age-related hearing loss, while an abrupt change over days points towards infection, trauma, or a reaction to medication. The pace of onset is one of the more useful details for distinguishing between these.
Conditions commonly associated
Sensory Decline in Senior Pets
Age-related hearing loss is a well-recognised component of general sensory decline in older animals and a common reason for reduced response to name.
Otitis Externa in Dogs
Chronic outer ear inflammation can narrow the ear canal and reduce sound transmission, contributing to reduced responsiveness.
Otitis Media
Middle ear inflammation can damage sound-conducting structures, producing a measurable reduction in hearing.
Otitis Interna
Inner ear involvement can affect both hearing and balance, so reduced responsiveness may appear alongside unsteadiness.
Canine Cognitive Dysfunction
Altered attention and processing of familiar cues is a recognised feature of cognitive decline, distinct from a purely auditory change.
Generalised Anxiety in Dogs
Underlying anxiety can reduce an animal's apparent attentiveness to cues like its name without a true change in hearing.
Feline Cognitive Dysfunction
In cats with cognitive decline, the failure to respond to a name can reflect changes in how the brain processes familiar sounds and attaches meaning to them, rather than a primary problem with the ears themselves. Sensory decline, including hearing loss, is one of the causes ruled out before cognitive dysfunction is diagnosed, and the two can occur together in older cats.
Hypothyroidism in Dogs
Decreased response to stimuli is listed among the behavioural signs of hypothyroidism in dogs, usually alongside other signs such as weight gain, coat changes or lethargy. Changes in hearing-pathway tests have been reported in some hypothyroid dogs, but clear hearing loss caused by hypothyroidism is not well established.
When to explore further
A gradual reduction in responsiveness in an older animal, particularly alongside other subtle interaction changes such as reduced greeting behaviour, fits a pattern worth characterising as a whole rather than as an isolated hearing change.
A sudden and complete loss of response, especially following an ear infection, head injury, or a new medication, points towards an acute cause rather than the more typical gradual age-related pattern.
A difference in response depending on which side the sound comes from can suggest a one-sided ear or neurological process rather than a general hearing decline.
Signs of ear discomfort, such as head shaking, scratching, odour, or visible discharge, alongside reduced responsiveness point towards a primary ear-based cause.
A young or middle-aged animal showing this change together with reduced play or interaction more broadly may reflect a different underlying picture than isolated age-related hearing decline and can be worth characterising separately.
Testing the animal's response to different volumes and distances without a visual cue available, for example calling from another room out of sight, adds detail a casual observation misses. Noting whether the response differs for low-pitched versus high-pitched sounds, keeping a simple log of when the change was first noticed and how it has progressed, and recording any ear discharge, odour, or head shaking builds a more complete picture over time.
Last reviewed: 9 October 2026 · Dr Alastair Greenway MRCVS