The 3Rs of Checking Your Own Hearing is a very easy-to-remember self-check that you can use on a regular basis as an early warning system for any changes in your own hearing. You don't need any special equipment. It's all based on things you'll encounter in every day life.

You may have come across the term 'Loop' or 'Telecoil' or 'Induction Coupler' or 'T Setting'. They all relate to the same thing (although there are technical differences).

So what is it and when is it useful, and how can you tell if you have one?

This article explains more, and shows how the telecoil can help overcome problems hearing over a distance or on the phone.

Watching TV (including DVDs and Videos) and listening to music is the main activity in the UK after sleep and work. It takes up a huge amount of our time, and it's usually because of the TV that people notice they're not hearing as well as they used to: volume goes up, and friends and family start complaining we have it on too loud.

This article explains why TV listening can be difficult, and how to watch TV at a volume that won't annoy anyone else.

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) describe equipment other than hearing aids that can be used to help someone overcome difficulties with hearing. Sometimes they are used with hearing aids. Sometimes instead of hearing aids.

In this article we look at different types of ALDs, including amplified phones, personal listening devices, TV Listeners and more.

In Causes of Hearing Loss we looked at some of the reasons why people don't hear as well, but we never asked the question, how well should we be hearing? Unless we know what normal hearing is, we won't know whether something deviates from this.