Q. A friend of mine’s husband is in his nineties. They are a delightful couple but the husband has started refusing to wear his hearing aids. As a consequence his loving wife has to shout at him to get him to do what she wants — which is only ever something that is to his own advantage, for example go for a short walk in the garden, or go to the television room where there is something on in which he will be interested. In order to achieve a result she has to bawl her lungs out. This is exhausting for her. How can one persuade a recalcitrant old boy to do the decent thing and wear his hearing aids?
— M.K., London W11
A. Your friend can spare herself the indignity of shouting like a fishwife by making recordings of regular instructions. No doubt they don’t vary that much from day to day and each one can be recorded onto an iPhone or laptop.
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