![author-image](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F7bdf7a13-a070-42da-9a70-dc35086775c4.jpg?crop=1213%2C1213%2C1321%2C0)
HUNTER DAVIES
My daughters yelled at me to get hearing aids. I finally listened
The Sunday Times
Listen to article
Narrated by Hunter Davies
It’s so expensive growing old. I know we get free bus passes and NHS prescriptions and used to get a free TV licence until they took that away, the rotters.
Besides having to pay a fortune for care if you are lucky enough to own your own home and have more than half a crown in life savings, you also have the escalating costs of fixing ordinary humdrum defects that come with age. Such as hearing.
Ten years ago I realised that my hearing was not what it once was. When my wife was alive, I used to say, “Stop mumbling woman, speak clearly.” And “Don’t talk to me when you are in the next room, how can I hear you?”
It’s strange how it