Anne Diamond: Thirty years of wearing an earpiece for television has made me deaf

She’s one of Britain’s best-known television presenters, but Anne Diamond has admitted that using earpieces for nearly 30 years has left her deaf in one ear writes Ted Thornhill for the Daily Mail (03/01/12).

She made the startling revelation on a video she recorded for the website of charity Action On Hearing Loss.

She describes how having her ‘talkback’ devices – through which directors communicate with hosts – turned up too loudly have taken their toll on her hearing.

The 57-year-old, who rose to fame in the 1980s presenting Good Morning Britain for TV-am, said: ‘I have some form of hearing loss right now, after 25, nearly 30 years of wearing a television earpiece. It’s what we call a talkback and I’ve always had it rather too loud.

‘While I don’t need to wear a hearing aid right now, I have been warned that I probably will need one quite soon.’

She explains that around four million people in the UK have some form of hearing loss and would benefit from a hearing aid – but don’t do anything about it.

She said: ‘I can’t possibly imagine not being able to do the job I love, or even the simple everyday things like sitting round a family table and enjoying a meal and being able to listen to the conversation around me.’ Ms Diamond explained that the charity can be a huge help to those suffering from deafness.

She added: ‘They provide a simple, free hearing check that you can do in your own home, explain what to expect from your doctor, and make the whole world of hearing aids so much simpler.’

Ms Diamond was recently embroiled in a row with comedienne Dawn French, who she accused of having gastric band surgery to lose weight.

Diamond herself had the procedure in 2006 and speculated that French's 'astonishing transformation' could have been the result of undergoing the operation.

However, French simply told Diamond to 'shut up'.

There are also video messages on the charity’s site from One Foot In The Grave stars Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie, EastEnders' Rita Simons and Genevieve Barr, an actress who was born deaf. 

Ms Crosbie uses two hearing aids and said: ‘I know what it’s like to go slowly deaf.’

She emphasises that Action On Hearing Loss is working hard to remove the stigma attached to the wearing of hearing aids.