Sound Friendships: The Story of Willa and Her Hearing Dog

Sound Friendships is the story of Willa Macy and her Hearing Ear Dog, Honey. Willa abruptly lost her hearing at the age of fourteen. She stayed in a kind of "cage", almost, within herself until she was 24. Then one day, Willa saw something on TV about a program that NEADS (Dogs For Deaf And Disabled Americans) offered. It was a program that trained and serviced dogs for the deaf community. Willa decided to apply for the program. After she was accepted, she was able to attend a training the the NEADS program offered. She and her new Hearing Dog, Honey, trained for several weeks, and by then Honey completely trusted Willa and was able to go home with her and assist her in her everyday life. Willa is a fictional character based on 2 women that the author met through the NEADS program.

This book was written by Elizabeth Yates (author of Amos Fortune, Free Man.)

Sound Friendships was originally published in 1987 by Elizabeth Yates. It was re-published in 1992 by Bob Jones University Press.

The ISBN for this book is 0-89084-650-2.

Click on the link to read a sample chapter of Sound Friendships.