When actress Amanda Barrie recently starred in Celebrity Big Brother, she didn’t pack her hearing aids to take into the house. The decision wasn’t because she was embarrassed to be seen wearing them – but because they are so tiny, she was afraid they’d get lost. The Coronation Street legend and vivacious 82-year-old, who is revealing for the first time that she suffers from age-related deafness, explains: ‘Hearing aids are so small these days I barely notice I’m wearing them. I remember showing them off to a friend when I first had them fitted and she told me the great thing was I could cover them with my hair. Amanda, who shot to fame in the Carry On series of films in the early 1960s, quickly regretted her decision to spend two weeks on the reality television show without being able to hear, because she was constantly asking her housemates to tell her what was going on. There were all these speakers with announcements telling me to go out and do tasks – and I couldn’t hear what they were saying,’ she says. ‘I couldn’t understand what we had to do, and the whole place would get a punishment if you didn’t do it. The veteran actress also has a suggestion for any women feeling bashful about having hearing aids..
I have no problem with people knowing I wear them – they are quite pretty really,’ she says. ‘You could almost wear them instead of earrings, or perhaps as a hearing aid with an earring attached. There’s a good idea: add a bit of glitter, a hoop and a drop off the end.’ She laughs. ‘I’m sure somebody will get on to that one! Like many people with hearing loss, Amanda, who married her long-term partner, journalist Hilary Bonner, 68, three years ago, first noticed her hearing was deteriorating in a noisy restaurant where there was a lot of background sound. ‘I’d been going to Joe Allen in Covent Garden ever since it opened in 1977, and a few years back it changed location.
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