The Edmondson Blog

I was worrying whether my wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, I rang the family doctor to discuss the problem. He told me there was a simple informal test I could carry out to get a better idea about her hearing loss.

"Here's what you do," he said, "Stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."

So last night, as my wife was in the kitchen cooking dinner and I was in the hall, the door to the kitchen was wide open so I thought to myself, "OK, I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens."

"Darling, what's for dinner?"

No response.

So I moved closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet away.

"Darling, what's for dinner?"

Still no response.

So I moved to the kitchen door, about 20 feet away.

"Darling, what's for dinner?"

Again, no response.

So, I moved half way across the kitchen, about 10 feet away.

"Darling, what's for dinner?"

Once again, no response.

So I walked up right beside her.

"Darling, what's for dinner?"

"For goodness' sake, Rick, for the FIFTH time, it's CHICKEN!"