Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Live TV has left me with 2 hearing aids
TV presenter Eamonn, 59, speaks out in bid to encourage people to get checked
EAMONN Holmes has opened up about his hearing loss in a bid to encourage others to get checked before it’s too late.
After initially battling embarrassment, the 59-year-old broadcaster now wears two aids.
A check-up seven years ago showed he had lost 30% of his hearing.
The Belfast man said: “We have to wear earpieces and I have been in live television for nearly 40 years.
“There’s been a constant array of frequencies and voices pounding in my ear, so it didn’t really come as a surprise to me when I heard there was some hearing deterioration.
“At Specsavers I received the final analysis of exactly what was wrong.
“I was told it’s in line with most men of my age.
“The comforting news is that I’m not alone in this.
“At first I was shy about wearing my hearing aids and only wore them at home watching television or at the cinema but then I wore them at a social gathering and nobody noticed.
“You wouldn’t think of going through life without glasses if your eyes weren’t good, so why should your ears be any different?”
Eamonn was speaking to coincide with World Hearing Day yesterday.
Run by the World Health Organisation, it hopes to draw attention to the importance of early identification.
Chief at Specsavers in Victoria Square in Belfast, Conor Fitzpatrick, said people wait an average of 10 years after experiencing symptoms before actually making a move to get checked.
He added: “It’s important to catch hearing loss early. The longer you delay, the less your brain will be used to filtering important sounds from background noises.
“It’s also easier to adapt to hearing aids in the early stages of hearing loss.
“By catching hearing loss earlier there will be less impact on your social life. “Research shows untreated hearing loss is linked to depression and feelings of isolation.
“Everyone’s hearing will deteriorate at some stage. With age, the hair cells in our inner ears lose their efficiency, affecting the sounds that can be heard.
“There are various ways hearing can worsen however, the main causes are age-related and through noise damage.
“But exposure to very loud sounds or prolonged exposure to loud noise can cause permanent damage.
“And repeated exposure will lead to cumulative hearing loss.
“Typically it’s the higher frequencies we lose first, making it difficult to distinguish speech from background sounds.
“Avoid putting things inside your ear canal – such as ear plugs – particularly if you are susceptible to conditions such as earwax, glue ear and ear inflammations.”