Health COMMENT

HEARING loss can start insidiously, so it can take time for sufferers to really notice there is a big problem.

I often find that patients have gradually turned up their TV or their phone so are inadvertently compensating.

It is only when these adjustments no longer help that people really become aware of their condition.

Yet hearing tests are easy to arrange, via a GP or on the high street.

Of course, wearing a hearing aid is a very visible treatment and I can understand the reticence as it is considered a sign of ageing.

But it’s far more doddery to be subjecting your nearest and dearest to deafeningly loud TV and radio, and constantly asking them to repeat what they say.

I can’t think of a single patient who has grasped the nettle and got help who didn’t tell me it was well worth it.