Our president Sarah Phillips welcomed us.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.

Mrs Phillips confirmed that we would be visiting the goat farm on May 4 and that a minibus would be available for any of us who needed it.

The newsletter was gone through and then Mrs Phillips introduced the speaker, Ms Dorothy Piper, who had valiantly stepped into the breach when the speaker who should have come had to cancel.

She brought her hearing dog, Puddle, a golden Labrador, whose name was explained by the fact that she had been given it after consultation with schoolchildren.

Ms Piper told us about the organisation which trains and provides hearing dogs. It was set up by Ben Fogle’s father, a vet, who was in the USA for a conference, saw some hearing dogs and brought the idea back to the UK 35 years ago.

Ms Piper then explained that in one in every six people with hearing loss, the problem is severe and worsening due to constant use of head phones among young people.

Hearing loss is not apparent as other disabilities are, so generally people do not understand it.

Hearing aids and cochlear implants help but lip reading is still necessary and can be difficult. Consonants, in particular, are difficult to make out with the letter ’s’, which does not involve much movement of the mouth, being a real problem.

She said the word ’sausages’ is especially tricky.

Ms Piper explained that there is a split second of delay for sounds to reach the inner ear and be interpreted and understood and a sudden change of subject by the speaker can result in confusion so it is necessary to let people know. She gave examples of this confusion when she had congratulated someone on getting a horse when the friend was in fact getting a divorce.

Words like kipper, slipper and stripper can be confused and Elvis was assumed to be shellfish on one occasion.

Facial expression is important in communication and if a speaker’s face is in shadow it makes lip-reading impossible. Hearing loss is isolating.

She then turned to the subject of the dogs who are carefully matched to the needs and lifestyle of the recipient.

The recipient then chooses which sounds the dog needs to respond to - for example the cooker alarm, fire alarm, telephone and whistle.

The dogs can recognise fine differences in sounds and when Ms Piper had to get a new whistle, her dog did not respond until she managed to find one which sounded exactly like the previous whistle. An example of how vital these dogs can be was a man who was having a heart attack and who sent the dog to get his wife, who was upstairs. As well as hearing dogs and guide dogs there are medical detection dogs which can sniff out cancer.

Dogs which fail to make the grade as guide dogs can be trained to be hearing dogs. Ms Piper said that people would talk to Puddle and this gave her an entrance to the world of the hearing.

Meanwhile, as the talk came to an end, Puddle was busy meeting and greeting everyone and she was a notable success.

We all enjoyed this talk very much and learned a lot about an important subject which is not generally discussed or really understood.

The vote of thanks was given by Mrs Barbara Gill and the competition was won by Mrs Elizabeth Sheen with Mrs Judy Rae second.

Our next meeting will be held at Arbory Methodist Hall on April 12 at 7.15pm.