by Richard Babington

BRITAIN is three times noisier than it was 30 years ago and our hearing is suffering as a result.

Almost nine million adults in the UK now have some degree of hearing loss. It can be caused by noise at work, noisy hobbies, or simply a build up of ear wax.

Although it is a crucial sense, most people refuse to admit they have a problem and carry on without getting help, struggling to follow conversations and growing increasingly isolated as a result.

Most adults get their sight checked fairly regularly, but they do not think their hearing needs the same level of attention. Although we have all had to cope with elderly relatives who are too stubborn to get a hearing aid, in today's world the age when hearing tends to deteriorate is coming down rapidly.

Any noise over 85 decibels puts your hearing at serious risk. The average rock concert is 120 decibels, a level which almost certainly causes damage - not exactly music to my ears when I go to several gigs a month.

With this in mind, and having not had a hearing test since I was seven, I jumped at the chance of being "Deaf for a Day" at Scrivens Hearing Care in Altrincham.

Hearing aid audiologist Mel Rawnsley gave me a routine hearing check, which comes in two stages - an air conduction test and a bone conduction test. The former determines how much hearing loss you have, and the latter discovers what sort of hearing loss you have, and both are assessed with a series of quiet beeps.

I found that my hearing had somehow stayed relatively normal - but too much loud music is a sure-fire way of sending yourself into a quieter world.

Mel said: "When I started this job 30 years ago, people who came here were in their seventies and eighties. Now, I get a lot more visits from people in their forties and fifties.

"Many of them used to spend several evenings a week in clubs with loud music, and it has destroyed their hearing. The odd gig is all right, but too many can cause permanent damage."

With nightclubs getting louder all the time, it does not take a genius to work out what is going to happen to our nation's hearing.

After the test, Mel blocked up my ears to recreate the sensation of deafness and then took me out into Altrincham town centre to see how I would cope.

Apart from looking pretty stupid walking around with putty in my ears, I felt spaced out and slightly unsteady on my feet. To be honest, it was quite pleasant to be able to block out much of the traffic noise and other sounds in the town - but I certainly appreciated my hearing much more when it returned.

One of the problems the exercise highlighted is that although this immediate severe hearing loss was very noticeable, most people who are hard of hearing suffered a gradual loss.

Mel said: "It's like when your children grow - you don't notice it yourself, but other people comment on how much they've grown. Others often notice your hearing loss before you do.

"Many people blame everyone but themselves - they say if everyone else spoke clearly, they would be ok. They often find social situations difficult, and start to withdraw and become isolated.

"Deafness can be very isolating."

Hearing aids suffer in comparison to other aids such as glasses - people immediately think of the huge NHS contraptions that sit behind the ear about as comfortably as a brick, but many modern hearing aids are almost invisible.

Some hearing problems do not even require a hearing aid. Wax is often the only problem, and a quick trip to your GP can sort that out.

Mel says: "There's a solution to most hearing problems these days."

Scrivens offers free hearing checks at its branches across the country. Experts recommend that you get your hearing checked every two years.

* To mark Deaf Awareness Week last week, Trafford Council teamed up with Trafford Deaf User Group to campaign to get British Sign Language recognised as the UK's fourth official language.

Sign language is the preferred language of about 70,000 in Britain, but is not recognised as an official language and deaf people are being denied access to information and services as a result.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Trafford officially launched the week at Trafford Direct in Sale. Pupils from Ashton on Mersey High School Hearing Impaired Unit also lent their support to the campaign.