'I didn't realise how deaf I was until I got hearing aids'

A woman who struggled with hearing loss for decades said she did not realise how deaf she was until she got a hearing aid fitted.

Kate Turner, 66, from Stroud in Gloucestershire, said she started becoming deaf in her left ear in her early 30s and also suffered from tinnitus, likely due to a virus.

She particularly struggled in group situations and said she became quite isolated. However, she said getting a hearing aid felt "like a revelation".

"I nearly cried when it was fitted because I could hear what my partner was saying. I didn't realise how deaf I was," Kate added. "I could even hear my own voice. I remember noticing the birdsong and hearing the typing on the keyboard."

She is now urging others to get their hearing tested and consider aids.

"For some reason people don't and go and get their hearing checked as regularly as they should. I think people just think they might be a bit hard of hearing, and don't realise what they're missing," said Kate.

She said she mostly struggled with being a mother of two young children at the time.

"I had no directional hearing," she explained. "So they'd call me and I wouldn't know where from."

Kate's husband Barry said he met her when she had already lost much of her hearing.

"If we were out with friends, Kate just couldn't hear the conversations so she felt excluded," he said.

"It was very frustrating, you can only repeat what someone said so many times until you lose the thread of the conversation. We didn't avoid it, but we didn't go out as much as we do now she has hearing aids."

After decades of putting off any hearing intervention, it was recommended she was fitted with a cross aid, which uses a transmitter on the poor-hearing ear to pick up sound, sending it to a receiver on the good-hearing ear.

"It transformed our life. We got in the car and Kate drove home with tears. She turned the car on and it's the first time she could hear the indicator," Barry said.

"You shouldn't have to go through life isolating yourself and the technology is out there."

Dr Krishan Ramdoo, a surgeon researching hearing loss, said: "Hearing loss often develops gradually, which is why early symptoms are easy to dismiss or ignore."

He said people often notice a feeling of fullness in the ear, ringing after loud noise, dizziness or muffled hearing, but put off getting checked.

"Untreated hearing loss is linked to social withdrawal, mental health issues and cognitive decline," said Ramdoo.

"While waiting lists remain high in some areas, pharmacies and local health practitioners can now offer checks, making it easier for people to act early and avoid wider health problems later on."

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