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STRUGGLING to follow conversation and straining to hear the TV were the first signs that John Shute was losing his hearing.
But for years, he made do by lip reading and turning the volume up. And he's is not alone - he is one of nine million deaf or hard of hearing people in the UK. According to the UK Council on Deafness, 800 people in every 10,000 have trouble following conversations in large groups or noisy situations, and many of those people find lip reading or hearing aids helpful. Mr Shute, 72, said: "When you're hard of hearing you have to look at the face of the person speaking to you and read their lips to try to compensate. It helps but you can't beat hearing what they're actually saying. "You don't expect to hear every single word even with decent hearing so your brain makes up what you think you hear. "It could embarrassing because people would ask something and I'd give an answer to another question I thought they'd asked." Mr Shute said it was his wife who first noticed he had trouble hearing what she said and how loud he needed to have the TV. He said: "I tried quite a few hearing aids over the years and to be honest they'd been a total waste of time and money in terms of the quality of hearing. "I'd given up but my wife said I needed my hearing checking again. She saw an advert for HearingDirect.com so I took a test on the website and it was quite revealing to see what loss of hearing I actually had." Mr Shute, of Low Road, Thornhill Edge, bought two hearing aids through the website which made a 'phenomenal' difference to his daily life.
He said: "When you suffer hearing loss gradually over the years, you don't realise just how bad it is. "Hearing aids can never give you perfect hearing back but it goes a long, long way to making life a lot more tolerable. And, of course, my wife doesn't complain about the TV now!" Mr Shute urged others concerned about their hearing to get their hearing tested. He said: "When people are hard of hearing they're a little embarrassed to get their hearing checked or to have something in their ears, which I was for many years. "The hearing aids I've got now are very discreet, nobody would really notice them at all. People shouldn't be embarrassed about it." (b ydewsburyreporter.co.uk)
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