MILLIONS of people in Britain are affected by hearing loss. For Raymond Turner, it was an unexpected challenge to enter a world of missed words and subsequent misunderstandings.  

"Every Friday night I used to go with my friends to the local club," explains the 77-year-old father of four. "One of the highlights of the evening would be a good, heated discussion. But I found myself being totally embarrassed because I thought they were leaving me out of the conversation. I often misunderstood what was being said and on several occasions, they'd ask what was wrong with me and teased whether the beer was 'off'. It took me a long time to come to the conclusion that I needed to do something about my hearing."

An elegiac novel by David Lodge about a man's effort to come to terms with deafness helped Raymond realise that he wasn't stupid or slow - he just needed hearing aid.

"This was a clever man whose words were his life and he saw deafness as a kind of death. I wouldn't say that I was intellectually in his class but I understood how he felt. It's easy to feel stupid when misunderstandings occur."

After seeing his GP, being fitted with an NHS hearing aid and still not hearing clearly, Raymond decided to visit David Ormerod Hearing Centres in the Royal Liverpool hospital. He was thrilled with the service as well as the state of the art digital hearing aid that he received.

"It's so unobtrusive I often forget that I'm wearing it and people can't see it because it looks like part of my spectacles."

Indeed, buying a Phonak Exelia Art hearing aid from David Ormerod Hearing Centres has enabled this charismatic family man to live life to the full again.

"I wouldn't hesitate to repair my car or have work done to the house. I regarded my new hearing aid as a good investment. It's made a huge difference to my life. I can now hear what I'm saying. And that's important," he jokes.

To hear more from Raymond Turner, please click here to see his video.