A new hearing aid can be a life-changing experience for an actor like me

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/11/new-hearing-aid-life-changing-experience-actor

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I passionately agree with Jackie Ashley that the funding for hearing aids cannot be cut (The short-termism of our NHS is spelt out in this scandal over hearing aids, 10 February). My hearing has been poor from childhood, but has deteriorated in the last few years. I was given a hearing aid on the NHS a long time ago but it was bulky and not very good so rarely got used. I’m an actor, working mainly on TV, where it was impossible to wear this aid without it being obvious, so I had to struggle on, constantly saying pardon, often not being able to hear cues (the bane of my working life was the mumbling actor!), and missing out on a lot of the banter and fun that is one of the perks of my job.

Last year I went for a long-overdue hearing test and was given, with no problem at all, fantastic, tiny new hearing aids free of charge. I’ve been banging on about them ever since. I had no idea how much the technology had improved and how inconspicuous hearing aids can be. I’m a fairly confident person and very open about my bad hearing, but have nevertheless found the condition isolating and extremely frustrating. These new aids have definitely improved my life, and I can now mumble along with the best of them.Trudie GoodwinLondon

• If North Staffordshire clinical commissioning group is given insufficient funds to meet the needs of its population, why pick on hearing aids? Instead, it could close a couple of paediatric wards, stop wasting money treating cancer, or sack a bunch of psychiatric nurses. Next!Dr Howard StoateGP, Bexley; former member, House of Commons health select committee

• Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Say that again, Jackie. Ah, not regarding moderate hearing loss as serious would be a false economy – I agree. Already too many people are reluctant to use aids, worsening their distress and relationships with those closest to them. Once used to wearing them, we still need others to project and not speak behind hands, and to recognise that numbers, letters, names and other context-free sounds can be very hard to distinguish. Lack of deaf-awareness is sadly as common among health professionals as it is with ordinary Joes (or was that Joans?). These proposed cuts suggest that this extends right to the top of the emerging medical/political establishment.

The only ones excused are comedians – even though one of the worst aspects of deafness is missing jokes. Punchlines, by definition, defy logic, what’s expected, common sense and all the other cues on which deaf people depend. Asking for the joke to be repeated just isn’t cool; but we get used to enjoying just joining in with the laughter.Richard Stainton (@everynowhere42)Whitstable, Kent