I GREATLY enjoyed David Lodge’s article (Living under a deaf sentence, News Review, April 20). His experiences match mine. I too suspect that ear infections started the damage; in my case after swimming in Valencia while at university there. A double irony, for, as a linguist, I find it doubly difficult in a foreign language to fill in the gaps of unheard consonants. Even the most expensive digital hearing aids do not come near to allowing you to hear normally, with high-pitched voices remaining unintelligible (eg, can anyone understand what that blonde female detective in CSI Miami is saying?). I would add to the list of advantages the ability to sleep through most night-time noises. I’ve even slept through a hotel fire alarm – a false one, fortunately. Andrew Davey, Waltham, Lincolnshire

NOT ALL BAD: I’ve been hearing-impaired from birth. Here are just some of the advantages: peace and quiet whenever you like, wherever you like; priority seats at the front of theatre stalls, often at half price; a cast-iron excuse for not answering your phone or BlackBerry; never being disturbed by neighbours or in noisy hotel rooms.

My deafness was one of the best things to happen to my family – my mother, an intelligent working-class woman, was inspired to become a teacher by the experience of working with me when I was a child. If I were offered today an operation to give me normal hearing, I wouldn’t take it: I value my volume switch on a noisy world too much.Dr Victoria James Romsey, Hampshire

PEOPLE SKILLS: Lodge mentions how moderately loud sounds feel painful while weak sounds are virtually inaudible. We have to decide whether to ask people not to shout when we know that, if they don’t, half their words may not be heard.

I recently had to negotiate a call centre dealing with car windscreen replacement. The operator was clearly reading from a script and that, with the unnatural rhythm of her voice, added to my difficulty in understanding her questions. Luckily for me, the young lady was patient and understanding and spoke good English, but I would not blame her for letting off steam after we had finished. Roy Hyde, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

NOISE NUISANCE: I have had extensive correspondence with the BBC, Ofcom, my MP and others on the bane of unnecessary background music on factual television programmes. Their answers freely admit that it is a problem but that nothing can be done because it is the sole responsibility of the BBC editorial staff as to whether it contravenes the BBC’s guidelines. Subtitles are obviously welcome for the totally deaf but are a very poor second for the majority with partial deafness - and I would rather look and listen than read. There is a simple, cheap solution in the stereo system. Speech could be broadcast through one channel and the music through the other. Bob Syrett, Louth, Lincolnshire

SPREAD THE WORD: A wonderful article. I hope it will help people to be more aware of the frustrations we feel. Brian Shelley, Amersham, Buckinghamshire

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