“Honey… What’s For Dinner?”

In my early twenties an ENT specialist told me I had a hearing loss, but it has not been a problem, as over the years I have always worn a hearing aid and was able to get by.

Lately, I noticed Anita wasn’t hearing as well as she used to and I thought she might need a hearing aid too. Not quite sure how to approach her, I called our family doctor to discuss the problem.

The doctor told me there is a simple informal test I could perform to give him a better idea about her hearing loss.

“Here’s what you do,” he told me, “stand about 30 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 20 feet, then 10 feet, and so on until you get a response.”

That evening, Anita was in the kitchen cooking dinner, and I was in the den. I said to myself, I’m about 30 feet away, let’s see what happens. Then in a normal tone I asked her, ‘Honey, what’s for dinner?”

No response.

Next I moved into the dining room; where I was about 20 feet away from Anita, and asked, “Honey, what’s for dinner?”

Again I got no response.

So, I walked up to the kitchen door, about 6 feet away. - “Honey, what’s
for dinner?”

Still there was no response.

So I walked into the kitchen and standing right up behind her. “Honey, what’s for dinner?”

“Harv…. for the FIFTH time, CHICKEN!”