SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

How to boost your senses. This week: Learn to listen LEARNING to listen properly can help as hearing declines. ‘Try to directly face the speaker,’ says David Baguley, a professor of hearing sciences at the University of Nottingham.

‘We gain a lot of information from the movement of their lips and the way their face moves.’

It also helps to use a hearing aid as soon as you notice a problem. Not only does this improve what you hear day-to-day, ‘they slow the decline in brain function associated with hearing loss,’ adds Professor Baguley. When you stop hearing as effectively it reduces a source of brain stimulation, speeding up cognitive decline. ‘It’s not unusual for people to wait ten years or more to use a hearing aid as they don’t feel their loss is sufficient enough to warrant intervention, but you should think about it much sooner.’