Deaf as a Post - but not for long

It has long been Ron's contention that I mumble - and long been mine that he's deaf. Many years ago in Spain he had his hearing checked, with the conclusion that although he was missing the top and bottom tones he had enough left in the middle to get by on. And so he has struggled on; with what he calls 'tin-ear', blighting the TV screen with subtitles, switching off on social occasions. One of his reasons for not getting anything done about it was a belief that hearing aids were either very expensive if purchased privately or involved a very long wait if pursued through the NHS.

Long wait or not, I decided something must be done and asked our GP about a hearing test. This was exactly five weeks ago. Today we had a trip to Derriford's Audiology Department and after a fascinating hi-tech test session he has had moulds taken of both ears and aids will be forthcoming in the very near future. Not a long wait at all - and it was quite a pleasant experience.

There is one slight worry; the Doctor was unhappy with his right ear as there appears to be another problem. He showed us on the graph that it was very different from the left, and two points which should have been close together were almost a page away. A 35 decibel difference, he said, which was very comprehensible! Anyway, he is passing this on to his colleagues in ENT so they can investigate further. In the meantime, I shall be much more laid back about subtitles and overloud music, knowing that it may not last too long.