Smart Woman: Hearing Aid Dogs
By: Maxine Ridling
Updated: May 30, 2012
A highly-trained cockapoodle named Maddy is a personal messenger for Poppy Nicholson - who has been deaf since birth.
The hearing dog is the 11 year old's constant companion.
Poppy doesn't wear her hearing aids at night -- so she uses Maddy's ears to know how long to brush her teeth and when to wake up in the morning.
Poppy says having Maddy at her side makes life a million percent better...because she finally feels normal.
Maddy joined the Nicholson family two years ago as part of a British study. Researchers found these hearing dogs give deaf children more confidence, make them feel smarter and help everyone in the family sleep better.
In the first study of its kind in Britain, The Hearing Dogs for Deaf people gave dogs to a dozen deaf children between the ages of 7 and 11 - and saw positive results.
Before Maddy came along, Poppy says she used to hide her hearing aids - because of people's reactions.
Now - she just smiles and introduces her new best friend.
