The latest research shows that we talk an average of 16,000 words a day – and contrary to popular belief, it's about the same for women as it is for men!

So think how many words we hear on a daily basis – and it's not just the conversation we're listening to. It's all those ones we overhear, the ones on the radio and TV... but are we about to miss the best conversation of our lives?

Eyes checked. Teeth checked. Hearing checked.

Hearing is one of our primary senses. So checking it routinely - whether you notice a problem or not - is as sensible as regular visits to the dentist or optician. As they say: prevention is better than cure!

Here you'll find all the information you need about having your hearing checked.

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.

In this article you'll discover the difference between simply hearing speech and understanding speech, and why more people have problems understanding speech than they do simply hearing it.

Our hearing is incredible. It can save our life, improve our memory, lift us out of the doldrums, connect us to people, and even change our destiny. But what's the real purpose of our hearing, and could we do with out it?