Football boss wants people to take hearing seriously

A football manager said he has noticed a "huge difference" in his quality of life after having a hearing device fitted to address previously undiagnosed hearing loss.

Swindon Town boss Ian Holloway, who has three deaf children and two deaf grandchildren, said that he was "delighted" to have part of his hearing restored and urged others to get their ears checked.

According to the British Academy of Audiology, one in six adults in the UK is affected by hearing loss and eight million of those are aged 60 or over.

Holloway, 62, said that he knew he had a problem when his wife noticed that he was unable to hear her.

"My wife Kim said - 'you're really struggling to hear me' - because almost every time she spoke I was saying 'pardon' or 'what'.

"I was offered a hearing test and I was shocked (by the result).

"I could clearly see what I've lost. All these sounds in that area of my hearing, I couldn't hear and my mind was making it up," he added.

Holloway, who was speaking out on Tuesday to raise awareness of World Hearing Day, said having the hearing device fitted had transformed his perception of the wider world.

"It's made a huge difference for me. Everything's so clear, it's like feeling you are in the dark, and then everything's suddenly in colour.

"I wear glasses to help me see better, so why wouldn't I want to improve my hearing?

"What you don't hear doesn't exist and I want to exist and I want to live so from now on, I don't want to take them (the devices) off," he added.

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