I attended the Cricket World Cup final at the MCG and happened to sit next to a famous kiwi sports broadcaster Murray Deaker. Following the standard pleasantries I asked him how his health was. “Fine”, he noted, “although, I’m starting to lose my hearing…”

Since meeting Elaine Saunders and her team back in July I have been in numerous social scenarios similar to this and it’s gripped me how prevalent hearing loss is, both mild and extreme cases, but more so the extended side effects that come with it – most of which I hadn’t really considered.

The second scenario was at a friend’s wedding only a few weeks ago in the picturesque surrounds of the southern mountains. I started speaking to a man who was in his mid to late 60’s. When his wife noticed we had begun a conversation she rushed over to me to tell me her husband suffers severe hearing loss, to speak slowly (which is not one of my strong points), and to look directly at him so he could read my lips as we go. We had a fascinating conversation which has made me passionate about assisting Elaine and her team spread the message.

I asked my new friend how he gets through social situations like this (a wedding reception). At this point I could see in his eyes how horrible it was for him, and how disengaged he was from pretty much everything going on around him. He spoke of the anxiety he has prior to attending social events and the effects of not being able to communicate properly.

I immediately grabbed his email address and wrote to Elaine, including him in the electronic conversation, with the hope of Elaine’s team finding a digital hearing aid solution. Gladly, this is currently a work in progress.

It’s been quite an inspirational and enlightening experience working with Elaine and gaining an understanding of her passion for innovation in the hearing space.

Radio has been my chosen profession for near on a decade now, mostly in the advertising department, however I am a passionate consumer of all radio types and formats. My heightened awareness of hearing deterioration in the past few months has me concerned about the welfare of on-air radio presenters, producers and those who wear headphones with noise blaring in their ears for hours and hours, and for weeks and years on end. Just like Murray Deaker who I mentioned at the beginning of this article. It wasn’t until the end of his career, until he had the ear phones off for an extended period of time (and I suspect the disappearance of the “volume up” button located on the studio amplifier), that he was even aware his hearing had deteriorated to such dangerous levels.

This is quite a scary proposition.

There must be a number of professional careers other than radio that require extended exposure to unhealthy working environments, from a hearing point of view.

What about farmers living on the land? Rural areas surely have limited access to hearing solutions providers. This is another very scary proposition.

So, how do we identify professions most at risk? More importantly, how can we educate people to have their ears checked before it’s too late? Before they dread reacquainting with old friends and relatives. Before they dread attending a family wedding where once they were the life of the party, like my new friend whose worst nightmare now is being unable to communicate at social functions.